Death's Little Huntress
by Amelie'sHuman
Summary: Choosing to stay in Paradise and strengthen his crew, Law and the Heart Pirates meet Arianna; a powerful hunter with a few tricks and secrets up her sleeve. Law wants her strength for his crew and lucky for him she has important prey sailing in the New World. Rating for gore/graphic violence and some themes in later chapters, no lemon.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my first story! I would like to apologize now for elements of the story that are clearly not my own. I will keep as much of it original as I can. Any comments, criticisms, and reviews are welcome. As long is it's not aggressive/mean (and I promise I won't take being told something is poorly written or pointless as mean.)**

**EDIT: the story starts on the weak side I know. It gets noticeably better a little later, I promise. Also it's been reformatted (originally the first 5 chapters were what has been described as walls of text).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"What?! We're not heading for the New World?!" The disbelief in his red headed subordinate's voice was clear.

So Trafalgar Law calmly looked at Shachi to answer. "We are simply waiting for the right time… that's all. No need to be hasty. It's not like One Piece is going anywhere."

Now it was Penguin, a man that kept all of his hair and half of his face covered by a black hat that displayed his name, to speak up "But what about Blackbeard, he and his crew stirring things up…"

Tired of having his decision questioned Law decided to put an end to all of his crew's concerns. "If pirates are fighting and taking each other out, then all the better for us. No need to get involved in the petty battles. Now stop complaining and just do as I say. When a position I need shows itself I'll just take it."

Just as he expected the whole crew erupted in cheers, including his sleeping polar bear first mate that was also currently doubling as a large cushion for Law to relax on. At the sound of the Bepo cheering Shachi and Penguin exclaimed "Sleep talking?!"

"I'm sorry." Bepo continued on to say, only to be further yelled at by the two.

After the crew meeting everyone was sent back to work. Law walked down to the navigation room to find Bepo and his newest crewmate Jean Bart. "How much longer until we reach the next island?"

Bepo was quick to respond with a big smile "We should be there within the next two hours."

Law smirked, "Excellent. Alert me once we are in sight of land." Then he walked out of the room and back down to his cabin to go over the stock lists to prepare for when they dock.

()

Walking through a town is always a strange experience for her. Strong, sturdy buildings that are permanently placed on the ground is such a foreign concept to her. Most of her life she didn't sleep in buildings. The closest to buildings she had as a child were small structures of leather, leaves and branches placed over a frame of wooden beams that are tied together. Not just the buildings were strange to her, but the people too.

No matter how small of a town she went to the population of its people were still much larger than the ones of her Home. She had been traveling on her own for nearly two years now but she still could not quite get comfortable when in the crowds of a town. Of course her appearance usually made the feeling mutual with the town's people. Though she did wear clothing bought from the towns that she traveled through since leaving her Family she still kept a touch of her old clothing on display.

She always wore leather bracers that extended from her wrist to three-quarters up her forearm, three braided leather bands on her left bicep, dried braided sage hung loosely around her neck falling on her collar bones, wolf fangs that have been halved vertically and carved and painted for earring, her hair was always kept out of her face with leather bands, and she always wore an animal fur of some kind. Though perhaps the most stand-out feature that made the citizens around her nervous were the weapons that she kept attached to her waist with a leather belt with holster loops. At her left hip was a dangerous looking tomahawk that was open in the center of the blade and the metal came out the other side of the wood at a spike, and a large hunting knife at the hollow of her back.

For today she almost looked like a the other people on the streets, at least compared to since she first started traveling to, what her culture referred to as, Landed towns. It was a word that simply meant stagnant person or population. She was dressed in a slightly loose fitting solid black t-shirt, with dark blue jeans that snuggly clung to her legs and tucked into her leather ankle-high flat shoes. Her tomahawk was mostly hidden and knife completely so by her brown bear skin vest that fell down to her mid-thigh. Her wavy shoulder-length light brown hair was pulled into pigtails behind her ears by two leather strings with little fringes of hair that were just slightly too short to stay put with the rest of it. Slung over her shoulder was a large messenger bag made by pieces of leather laced together and tied shut that held all of her belonging. Combined with her somewhat short stature and cheerful smile she actually looked rather like a cute young girl.

Even alone and in unfamiliar territory, Arianna tried to maintain a happy outlook. For the most part life tends to be easier and people nicer when approached with a cheerful attitude. Having just arrived to the island on a merchant ship the first thing Arianna is on her way to do is find the biggest bar on the island. Though not one to drink she quickly learned since beginning her travels that the best place to find information on nearly anything was at a bar, the sleazier and rowdier the better. Making her way through the streets she could already hear whispers of trouble on the island.

From what she can catch it had something to do with a wild dangerous monster. In her experience "monsters" are typically the alpha predators of the territory that either started to run low on prey in its hunting grounds, or its territory was actually being invaded by the town people and it's simply defending it home from the ignorant Landed. It wouldn't hurt to get more information on this supposed monster while she was at the bar, and then decide from there if it's something she should help with. *_Decide there? You know you're going to help them. You never turn your back on people when you can help them.* _Arianna's mind reminded her. Stopping in the middle of the street she couldn't help but sigh at her own thought. *_How many times have I gotten myself into dangerous situations because I can't ignore it when there's a problem? No! Only help if they really seem to need it! You have your own important hunt to accomplish! Focus!* _She thought, smacking her cheeks with both her hands at her last thought. *_Now, off to the bar!*_


	2. Chapter 2

**We made it to chapter two, yay! Any comments, criticisms, and reviews are welcome. As long as it's not aggressive/mean (and I promise I won't take being told something is poorly written or pointless as mean.)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Landing on the new island Trafalgar Law was quick to round up his crew and start giving out lists and orders, sending them off to restock the ship. It was late afternoon when they landed at the odd island. It was somewhat large and covered in a thick forest, but the town was small.

He had decided to have Jean Bart and two other crew members stay and guard the ship while the rest left so the supply runs will be finished as quickly as possible. "Do we really need to go on supply runs, we just restocked at Shabody?" Shachi started to complain.

Law turned to him and reminded him. "Yes, we used half of our drug supply on Strawhat-ya and Jinbe-ya. We also need to replace the equipment Strawhat-ya destroyed when he woke up."

Embarrassed at having to be reminded, Shachi couldn't help but fidget and say, "Oh, right." With that settled Law handed his nodachi off to Bepo and walked towards town, knowing his companion would follow without having to be told.

Normally when arriving to a new island the people would be nervous and suspicious of the pirate crew as they walked the streets, but this town seemed preoccupied with a fear of an entirely separate origin. In fact most of the people didn't even seem to take notice of the group of wanted criminals that were now openly walking their streets. The whole crew was ignored, except for Bepo.

The people eyed the bear with great fear. *_Odd. Normally people are curious about Bepo or even amused at the sight of him, but never afraid of him.* _Law thought to himself. "Captain, I can smell a large amount of alcohol that way." Bepo alerted him, pointing towards a street to their right.

"Ah. Good. Let's see what information we can find." Law allowed Bepo to move past him and lead him to the local bar. A small building to go along with the small town with a sign on above the front on the building that simply said East Bar. *_This town must be so small that they don't even bother to give businesses their own name.* _Law thought.

Entering, he noticed that the bar was a little less than half full, with every patron turning to eye the strange man with a bear close at his heels walk to the counter. As soon as he sat at the counter the man tending to the customers glared at Bepo and quickly ordered, "Get that beast out of my bar!"

Ignoring the depressed apology from his first mate and navigator Law's calm smirk switched into a dark and deadly scowl. "I do not take orders from anyone. Especially from a man who dares to insult my crewmembers. Bepo will be staying here with me regardless of your preferences. If you want him to leave then I expect that you will be quick to share what I would like to know."

The bar owner was clearly aware of how dangerous the man in front of him was and said nothing against the animal again. Swallowing hard he tried to regain his composure. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

Smirking again now that the man was sufficiently frightened and willing to share what he wanted to know, Law's questions started. "How long does it take for the log pose to set?" This was always the first thing Law would learn when arriving at any island, and typically the easiest too.

"30 hours." The bartender answered quickly.

"What is the name of the island?"

At this the man smirked, "Feral Enclave"

The name caught Law's curiosity. "Odd name. Why?"

"Surely you saw that despite the island's large size the town is small and stays close to the coast. It's because the rest of the island is a dense forest with a lot of real nasty beasts."

The man paused to glance at Bepo, who was quietly listening to the man's explanation, before continuing. "Despite our best efforts to expand the town the beasts attack anyone who goes too deep. So instead of constantly losing good people trying to expand our town we settled to staying right where we are."

Now understanding the fear displayed towards his first mate, Law asked about what he felt was the obvious solution. "Why not send a group of hunters to clear out the predators?"

The bartender scoffed, "Of course hunters were sent to clear out the forest. There is even a standing bounty of 1,000 beri for every dead predator brought out of the forest. The boss of the forest is a giant, weirdly colored jaguar worth 10,000 beri!"

At this Law couldn't contain his shock. _*__That much money for an animal?*_

"Why such a high bounty? Can a wild animal really be that dangerous?"

The man laughed darkly "It's killed every group of hunters that have gone after it. The only reason we know about its existence is because a few of the last groups had taken transmitter snails with them so we would at least know what we're up against. And it's not just a wild animal, it's a beast that ate devil fruit. At least that's our best guess."

Hearing this gave Law a dangerous idea. "Thanks for the tip. Where would a person collect their reward for their kills?"

The man grinned, clearly happy to hear the pirate's interest in what was certainly a suicidal errand. "Town Hall. Can't miss it, it's the biggest building we have."

"Good to know. Now what about a place for a crew to stay?" Now the man frowned, probably hoping Law would go to his death that night.

"_Paying customers_ go to the hotel across the road from Town Hall"

Law simply smirked and turned to leave the building. But before he made it out the door he heard, "First that girl, now a pirate crew out to free our little town of its troubles." The man said sarcastically.

_*A girl?* _Law questioned to himself. He considered asking the man what kind of girl would actually go into the forest alone knowing the animals within were killing groups of hunters, but then decided that he didn't care.

Stopping to make the necessary reservations and pay for the night at the hotel the bartender told him about, Law continued back. Returning to the ship, he and Bepo waited on the deck for the rest of the crew to return. When Penguin returned with the last of the supplies, Law told his group to put everything they bought away in the ship and to return to the deck.

Once done he made his announcement. "Tonight we are staying at a hotel in town."

He waited for the roar of cheers from his men to quiet down before continuing. "And tomorrow some of us will be going into the forest to hunt a man-eating jaguar that is likely a devil fruit user."

At this his whole crew collectively exclaimed, "WHAAAA?! Why would we do that?!"

It was Bepo who calmly and simply answered "10,000 beri."

While hearing the reward amount brought excitement to most of his crew, some were still nervous. Aware that they were likely to be a part of the hunting party. Penguin and Shachi were clearly the most nervous about the whole idea, with Shachi being the first to voice his concern, "Should we really be messing with a wild animal worth that much."

Penguin couldn't seem to agree more "Yeah. It's probably really dangerous."

Not realizing that he was only encouraging their fears Bepo decided to relay the information he and Law were told, "Apparently it has kill every hunting party that has gone after it."

"DON'T TELL US THAT!" The duo yelled at Bepo, earning a quick and depressed apology from the navigator.

Ready to leave for the hotel, and put an end to his crew's shenanigans, Law motioned for them to depart. As they were walking to the hotel Shachi and Penguin were pestering Bepo for more information about the jaguar that they will be hunting tomorrow. After Bepo shared every bit of information he knew he questioned, more to himself than them, "I wonder if that girl is still alive."

"Huh?" This grabbed not just Shachi and Penguin's attention but most of the crew's as well.

"Ah. When we were leaving the bartender said a girl went into the forest to hunt the jaguar alone." Bepo explained further.

Being the women loving men that they were Shachi started rambling "There's a girl out there all alone?! Why are we waiting until tomorrow?! Let's go now! We might be able to save her!"

With Penguin quickly adding on, "And when we do she'll defiantly fall in love with us!"

"You two are such dumbasses. You realize she's probably already dead if the predators in the forest are all as dangerous as the bartender said?" a crewmate remarked in a calm, exasperated voice.

Penguin wasn't happy about it and turned to argue with the dark brown haired man with an orange bandana that covered most of his head. "Shut up Marcus! She could still be alive!"

"Maybe in your fantasies." The slightly shorter man with black hair that was grown out somewhat, but not so much that it went past his ears.

"Who invited you to our conversation Connor?" An irate Shachi yelled.

Tired of the pointless argument Law decided to end it "Enough. Penguin, Shachi, Bart-ya, and Bepo will be coming with me tomorrow to hunt the jaguar. While we are gone everyone else will be preparing the ship so it's ready to leave as soon as we are finished."

At his words the crew gave a collective "Yes Captain." With all arguments ended the men continued on to their lodging for the night to prepare for the next day.

()

Happy and feeling at home in the forest, Arianna considered the information she gathered on her prey while she settled in a tree for the night. Tracking it was oddly difficult. She would find its prints and signs of the large predator passing through an area but then its tracks would vanish; as if it no longer existed to the world.

Not wanting to attract every predator in the forest she settled to eat the fruit she has stored in her bag instead of the dried meat, keeping it tightly wrapped and its smell contained.

Leaning comfortably against the trunk of the tree she tied her bag to the branch she was laying on and used it as a pillow, the thick leather hunting clothes she changed into before entering the forest providing enough cushion for the rest of her body. *_I can't believe I didn't even ask about that pirate? Then again the bartender probably wouldn't be willing to talk about him without proper compensation, and I doubt the amount I have would cut it.* _Sighing, Arianna finished her apple, core and all, and tossed the stem to the ground. *_Better to get the reward money and then I'm sure I could afford any information that man has.* _She thought before settling in and going to sleep for the night.

* * *

**I'm sorry. I still haven't had the Heart Pirates met Arianna. Next chapter, I promise! At least I introduced (though very briefly) some other original characters. Next chapter will be out soon, guaranteed! 'till then :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**This will probably be the last chapter in my string of back to back releases, afterwards I'll be releasing them with a bit of time in between (hopefully not too much). As always I ask for any comments, criticisms, and reviews are welcome. As long as it's not aggressive/mean (and I promise I won't take being told something is poorly written or pointless as mean.)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Arianna woke up at the first sign of dawn, when the sky is just turning grey. Deciding she still has some time before her prey would be moving too far from its den, Arianna decided that eating the bit of dried meat in her bag couldn't hurt since by the time any predator would get close she would already be long gone. *_Besides it's the only food I have left…* _She thought a bit dejectedly. With her barely-a-meal finished Arianna untied her bag from its spot on the branch and jumped down from hers. Closing her eyes and breathing deeply, taking in the scents and sounds around her, Arianna detected the slightly higher amount of moisture to the northeast and began her trek to what was likely a popular water source for the animals in this part of the forest. Predator or prey, all animals frequent sources of fresh water.

()

Law woke up at dawn, when the sky was starting to turn blue but still holding shades of grey from the night. After a trip to the bathroom and washing his face he woke Bepo who he had roomed with. The two proceed to wake the rest of the crew, both those who were and were not going on the hunt for the man-eater. Though still nervous about the jaguar Shachi and Penguin had given each other pep talks before sleeping the previous night in their shared room, so they were feeling ready. So Connor decided to mess with their confidence. "Don't worry guys! If that deadly man-eater does manage get you, we'll be sure to honor you with a memorial in the galley."

He earned a chuckle from Marcus and a few other men.

"Shut it! You're just jealous that the Capitan trusts us in battle more than you, that's why we're going and you're preparing the sub!" Shachi retaliated, ignoring Penguin's shushes knowing this isn't going to end well for them.

At this Connor was about to start a fight with his crewmate right in the middle of the lobby of the hotel and Shachi was just as willing. Until that is, Law stepped in the middle of the two and ended the situation with a glare and some words, "It's good that everyone seems to know what they are to do. So, get started."

Everyone in the crew, except for Jean Bart and Bepo, trembled in fear at their Capitan and ran to get out of the building and started with their tasks.

With his hunting party in tow, Law lead their voyage into the forest. As the group walked towards the forest, the citizens who were up early were watching them in disbelief. Once they reached the end of the town and all traces of manmade objects were gone Law stopped, his group stopping behind him. Turning to Bepo he said, "Take the lead and try to track any large animals you sense."

"Yes Capitan!" He answered excitedly. Taking a few sniffs of the air Bepo decided to lead the group straight north into the forest.

As the group walk, now a few miles in the forest, Penguin realized something, "This forest is supposed to full of animals, right? Why haven't we seen any?"

Just now realizing it too Shachi chimed in. "Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy the predators are leaving us alone but shouldn't there other animals that they hunt?"

"There are. I smell plenty of wolves, rabbits, deer and such. The wolves especially are close by. They're just avoiding us." Bepo informed them.

"I wonder if we'll even be able to find this jaguar if all the animals are running from us." Jean Bart said, speaking for the first time that morning.

Law however was not worried. "From what the bartender said this beast is highly aggressive and will likely come after us."

_*So basically we're bait?* _Shachi and Penguin both thought, sweating. Bepo suddenly stopped and kneeled down to investigate something on the ground. Picking up a small twig, not even the size of his claw, he sniffed it.

"What is it?" Law asked.

Turning to the group behind him Bepo smiled happily "An apple stem. There haven't been any apple trees though… I think it was from the girl who came here yesterday."

Shachi grinned at this and couldn't help but yell "Maybe she really is still alive!"

"Quiet!" Bart tried to warn him but it was too late. The wolves that had been watching them from a distance were now agitated by the noise intruders and intend to bring quiet back to their home.

()

Arianna easily found the spring that served as the forest inhabitants' water source. And judging from the very fresh paw prints in the moist soil, she only just missed the jaguar.

Leaning in close she smelled the prints, mentally shifting through the different scents in the ground to identify the animal's unique scent. To her confusion she could not find the carnivore's scent, only various plants. *_Normally I should have picked up on the jaguar's scent. The smell of such a large predator should be overpowering in an area it frequents as much as a water source. Why can I only smell plants?* _Arianna was starting to get frustrated, putting on her strongest pouty face despite the only ones around to see it were the deer and chipmunks, who decided that the quiet girl was not after them.

Throwing herself on the grass face first, and taking a deep breath to regain her patients for her hunt she was about to decide that her tracking will have to be handicapped and completely give up on scent tracking, despite the disappearing prints. Until she realized that the grass she was now laying in smelled slightly different from where the tracks were. Returning to the prints she sniffed again. A large grin appeared on her face, she found the big cat's scent.

()

Law and his group were surrounded by the wolves. Carefully and calmly watching them he counted a pack of ten. Raising his left hand he called out "Room" and allowed himself and the three wolves in front of him to be enveloped in his territory. Bringing his nodachi in front of himself Law drew his sword and started slashing at the animals that mistakenly believed him and his crew to be easy kills. Once they were all cut into pieces he sheathed his sword and couldn't help but play with the poor wolves, "Shambles" was all he said as his victims pieces began to reattach to parts that weren't theirs, or where they belonged.

While Law played with his victims Bepo was quickly leaping and kicking at the two attacking wolves that wanted to take advantage of his Capitan's turned back, putting in a battle cry with each strike for good measure. Similarly Shachi and Penguin were punching and kicking at a pair of attacking animals, and Jean Bart was simply swatting another two away like flies.

The last wolf standing ran away crying with its tail tucked firmly between its legs, while the ones that managed to get back up from their attacks followed suit leaving behind the disfigured wolves that were unfortunate enough to have chosen to confront Law.

"At least that was easy." Shachi commented happy with the attack over. However Law felt that something was off. Bepo too apparently because both kept their guard up. With only a second warning from his battle instincts Law warned his group "Look out!"

()

As Arianna followed the usual smelling scent trail of the jaguar she saw its tracks come and go. At one of the portions of tracks it left behind she became intensely concerned. Its tracks, which started as a light and calm trot, became deep and elongated prints. It was no longer walking, it was running. Arianna could not find any sign of it having given chase to prey, which could only mean an intruder to its territory, and judging from the direction the intruder was from the town. With a new sense of urgency Arianna's smile was gone as she sprinted after the predator she was tracking, pulling out the tomahawk from its place on her hip and clutching it tightly. *_If I'm right about the jaguar's power then chances are whoever wandered into its home won't be able to put up an actual fight!* _

()

"Thanks for the warning, Capitan." Penguin panted out, more so from fear than exhaustion. If it weren't for Law's warning Penguin wouldn't have been able to dodge roll away from the jaguar that appeared, seemingly from thin air, and tried to pounce on the slim pirate.

With Law and his whole group turned to face the beast he could see what the bartender meant when he said the jaguar was oddly colored. While it did have the normal gold and white over its whole body its spots were not black, they were _green_.

Not waiting for it to make another move Law immediately opened his room but as he went to draw his sword the jaguar crouched and leaped at him. Slashing at the cat, it seemed be cut in half, along with the trees behind it, but instead of falling its whole body disintegrated into a mass of leaves that quickly rushed at him. *_A logia!* _

Before he could do anything else the mass of leaves reformed and was right above him, his room disappearing in his shock. To his relief Bepo had sensed something off about the animal and was better prepared for its attack to not be stopped by the pirate captain's strike. While Bepo's kick did not harm the predator it did distract it from its original target.

Bart, Shachi and Penguin all regrouped around their captain who opened another room. "What now?" Shachi questioned, really to anyone with an idea.

Over the shock of the animal's logia powers, Law already understood that where they were they can't win against the big cat. "We need to lead it to a body of water and push it back until it drowns." He answered.

Bepo took a few seconds to sniff. "There's water to the northwest!" Informing his comrades quickly.

"Great," Penguin started, "so behind the jaguar."

"I'm sorry." Bepo apologized despite the dangerous situation.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!" Shachi and Penguin yelled loudly, only to earn another apology. Putting an end to their conversation the jaguar leaped for another attack. Law however had a solution for their problem, using his shambles Law replaced his whole group with pieces of the cut tree from his first attack.

"Run!" He ordered his crew now that they were closer to the water Bepo smelled than their attacker. *_Shit! I don't know if I'm going to have enough energy to fight the jaguar, assuming we even make it to the water.* _Law worried to himself as he immediately felt the drain from using his powers to swap places for so many people individually rather than as a single mass since they were all separated.

Bepo glanced back as they were running then cried out, "Help! It's closing in on us!"

Distracted by Bepo's screaming Penguin failed to see a root in his path and tripped.

The group stopped to look back, Shachi screaming out to his best friend "RUN!"

Just as the cat was on its final stride about to leap a figure jumped a foot in front of the fallen Penguin, forcing the jaguar to stop and remeasure its jump. Before Penguin stood a girl in pigtails dressed head to toe in fur-lined leather. Her flat shoes, thick pants and long-sleeved shirt, with a thick vest protecting her torso all the same color of ruddy, natural, brown.

In her hand she held a small ax of some kind with a blood-red wooden handle and oddly round and hollow blade with a spike on the other side and a large knife attached to the back of her waist. Unmoving and utterly focused on the animal in front of her, the girl didn't spare a glance to the men behind her.

After a second her grip tightened on the weapon in her hand and it immediately turned black with a slight purple shine. *_That's-* _Before Law could even finish his thought the jaguar jumped at its newest target, who in turn sprung forward, ax drawn back. Just as it body began to shift to leaves the girl swung her now black ax into the cat. And when the blade touched its target, the neck just where it meets the skull, instead of being met with a mass of leaves the weapon stayed in the cat's neck, blood shooting out explosively from arterial spray. By the time the two landed the jaguar was no longer moving.

The girl stood up, pulling her weapon, which was now returning to its original color, out of the beast and swinging it once through the air to send off some of the excess blood before placing it handle first through a small loop on her waist and turning to Law and his group.

Looking at them with obvious concern the unfamiliar and slightly bloodied girl started talking. "Are you all okay? It didn't actually get any of you right?"

Penguin jumped up, immediately answering his savior with a slight blush to his face "No, I mean, yes. I mean we're all fine!"

Shachi who didn't seem able to speak at all simply stared, mouth open, face red, sunglasses fogging up. Relieved that they were apparently unharmed the girl exhaled and with a big, sweet smile started talking again, "That's good. I would feel so guilty if you guys were hurt because I was messing around instead of killing that jaguar as quickly as I could."

This prompted Law to question her with a harsh glare, "What does that mean?"

Her smile quickly turned nervous trying to explain herself, "I had found its trail about twenty minutes ago, but instead of chasing it down and killing it, I decided to take it easy and follow it at a leisurely pace. But as soon as it's tracks showed that it was running like it was chasing something despite no signs of prey I realized someone else might have come in and attracted it's attention I moved as quickly as I could."

When she finished her explanation she fidgeted nervously under Law's glare, waiting from him to release her from it. Shachi, Penguin and even Bepo clearly wanted their capitan to be kinder to the girl that just saved their lives, while Jean Bart watched quietly from his spot next to his captain. Law didn't let up his gaze instead asking "How are you able to use Busoshoku Haki?"

Apparently no longer nervous the girl's smile returned to being happy, "Everyone in my Family is taught to use haki. Busoshoku and, uh… the other one both. It's just a normal thing to me. Since you ask I take it none of you know how to use them, huh? Most people on this side of the Grand Line don't, that's why I was so worried when I realized the jaguar was going after a person."

_*Her whole family? Someone like this…* _a wicked smirk crossed Law's face *_could be very useful to my crew.*_ Taking a much more relaxed demeanor, "My name is Trafalgar Law, Capitan of the Heart Pirates. Who are you?"

The girl cheerfully answered. "Yassun Leya Arianna."


	4. Chapter 4

**As always I ask for any comments, criticisms, and reviews are welcome. As long as it's not aggressive/mean (and I promise I won't take being told something is poorly written or pointless as mean.)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Emerging from the forest Law's group had two more bodies with them than when they entered, the dead jaguar being carried on Jean Bart's shoulder and the cheerful girl that walked happily with the pirates, and all had smiles. The first thing the group did was head to Town Hall to present the felled beast and receive the reward. However half way there, already at clearing where the towns people had cleared out the trees but didn't live long enough to do anything with the land, Bepo asked a question that somehow escaped everyone's mind, including Law's. "Who gets the reward money?"

At the question everyone stopped. All smiles instantly dropped from their faces, except for Law's. "We keep it of course." He answered easily.

At this the previously cheerful girl protested angrily. "Hold on! I killed the jaguar, you guys couldn't even touch it!"

Bart ready to argue with the girl pointed out "I carried it back. If we weren't there then how did you plan on bringing it into town?"

Caught off guard by the question Arianna took a second to think it over. "I would've skinned it and given its hide to the mayor as proof. It's probably what he's going to want to do with it anyways."

Shachi couldn't help but mutter to Penguin, "Crap, that's a good argument." The man nodded in agreement.

Luckily Law had the perfect answer for their debate, which he gave as he continued to walk towards his reward money, "The Heart Pirates get the money because I decided that you are going to be coming with us as the newest member of my crew."

Everyone in the group, except for Jean Bart, collectively shouted in disbelief at this arrogant man's words. Penguin and Shachi both cheered at the news. _A girl on the crew!_ Bepo was rather excited at the prospect of this kind, young girl becoming a member of the crew as well.

Only Arianna wasn't smiling, rubbing one of two pieces of twine that reached up from her wrist around her middle finger and back down on her right hand in frustration. "You think you can decide just like that who joins you? I'm not looking to join a pirate crew. I'm a hunter and I won't let you stop me from going after my prey."

The previously cheerful girl is now showing a serious face to the pirates, her bright green eyes dulled slightly as dark thoughts ran through her mind. Now stopped, Law turned to address the girl, "And who exactly are you hunting Huntress-ya?"

The girl resumed walking, telling Law as she passed him "That's private."

The serious atmosphere that surrounded the two was destroyed however when a low unexpected sound made itself known. Arianna's stomach didn't simply growl, it roared in protest of being empty for so long. The five pirates stared at her with deadpan faces as Arianna quickly wrapped her arms around her stomach as if to hide it, her face bright red. Looking up at the sky, she realized the sun was almost at its highest point and her last bit of food was eaten before it was even up. Penguin walk up to her smiling, "Don't worry about it. We will probably make it to the ship just in time for lunch, you can eat there and get to know the rest of the crew."

"I never said I'd join your crew." She said stubbornly.

"How were you planning on leaving the island then?" Shachi asked.

"So I'm supposed to become a pirate just to leave one island quickly?" she countered, avoiding any actual answer.

"No. You're supposed to become a pirate so that you can visit as many islands as possible. Wouldn't that be the best way to find someone you want to kill?" Law reasoned.

"Where are you all going?" Arianna asked, changing her view on the situation.

"For now we are sailing around Paradise. When we're ready, we will be going to the New World." Law answered.

Closing her eyes in thought, Arianna was seriously considering his words. *_Traveling with a pirate crew would get me around much faster. More importantly they will no doubt get into a lot dangerous situations. The whole arrangement could be good for me. So long as it doesn't get in the way of my goal. And honestly I can't think of good reason not to.* _"Alright, I guess I'll go." She sighed in defeat.

Grinning, Shachi and Penguin ran to the girl, each taking an arm and leading her quickly into town with Bepo close behind. On their way they heard Law call after them "Just go directly the ship, Bart-ya and I will collect the reward."

When he heard them call back in confirmation he turned to his last companion. "Let's go."

()

After they made it to town Arianna managed to shake Shachi and Penguin off her arms so that she could simply follow them to their ship, instead of being dragged. The duo chatted away about the crew and their previous adventures. She tried to listen at first but soon got bored and instead focused on watching them, taking note of as many details of their appearance as she could. There were no little details to be missed when looking at Penguin, white jump suit with an odd yellow smile that she assumed to be the crew's symbol, brown boots and his hat that hid all defining features of his head. However upon closer inspection to Shachi, who wore the same clothing, his own hat and sunglasses, she realized he had odd markings just barely sticking out of his sleeves, not that she could she come up with an idea of what the rest of the tattoos were.

Glancing at Bepo she saw that the polar bear was smiling happily, making her feel suddenly guilty of the vest tucked away in her bag, *_I'll sell it first chance I get, wouldn't want to hurt his feelings.*_

"Here we are!" Shachi announced happily. Looking up Arianna realized that the ship she was led to was not a boat but some kind of metal structure that she had never seen before.

"What is that?" Voicing her confusion.

"She's my baby! The Heart Pirate personal submarine!" Penguin announced proudly.

Still confused, her questions continued, "Okay… So what's so different about a submarine than a normal ship? And how is it your baby?"

"Simple. A sub is built to go underwater as well as stay on the surface, and she's my baby because I'm in charge of all things mechanical when it comes to her." Arianna sweated at her new comrade's insistent use of the pronoun she when talking about the structure.

As she continued to look up and down the huge, yellow ship, she noticed that there was a small hand-full of men in the same body suits as Shachi, Penguin and Bepo. "Looks like the stooges managed to come back!" one of the men announced.

_*Stooges?* _Arianna felt certain that there was a giant question mark above her head at this moment, first a type of ship she had never heard of now a word.

"Who's the girl?" another asked loudly, gaining the attention of any crewmember who didn't seem to react at their comrades' return.

The men surrounded the small group, all asking various questions, too many for anyone to really understand one. As if fighting the loudness of the group of men all trying to talk over one another, the girl's stomach roared once again as it was still empty; and once again the noise left everyone around her silent.

"That's right, you were hungry weren't you?" Bepo remembered.

"Let's go get lunch! It's ready right?" Penguin asked.

"Yeah, Thomas already called everyone in to eat. A few of us wanted to keep an eye out for you guys and Captain." A man with an orange bandana explained.

Giving the new girl a curious look he then asked "Who's the little girl?"

"This is Ari-chan. The girl who went into the forest to hunt the jaguar yesterday." Shachi answered smugly, Penguin wearing an equally smug smile on his face. Arianna raised an eyebrow questioningly at Shachi. *_Ari-chan?*_

All the men that surrounded them couldn't even try to hide their shock. Bepo, apparently ignorant of the shock consuming the men, looked down cheerily at Arianna, "Let's go get some food. I'm hungry too."

"Yay!" the girl cheered happily throwing both hands in the air and a foot popped up too, looking even more like a child to the man with a bandana than before.

With Bepo leading the way the, now larger, group of pirates reached the galley very quickly. After he opened the doors Shachi and Penguin ran in announcing their return to their crewmates, and excitingly told everyone that they "brought a surprise home with them" while Bepo announced, much more quietly, that Law and Bart will be there shortly. The former of which brought the entire crew's attention to Arianna.

Thankfully this time she wasn't swarmed, so she was able to follow Bepo to a large opening in a wall connected to the kitchen to get food. Deciding it she would be better off staying with the sweet bear for the moment, she then followed him to one of the three long tables to sit and eat. Shachi and Penguin apparently didn't want to leave her just yet, so they followed too. After a few bites of her food Arianna realized that the man with the bandana sat down, watching her, and a man with black hair sat down as well, more so to talk with Shachi and Penguin than her.

"Marcus and Connor." Bepo said. The two men and the girl looked at the bear. "Their names." He continued, repeating their names, this time pointing at them so she would know which is which.

"Why are you here?" Marcus, the one with the bandana, bluntly asked the stranger.

Now angry at the taller man, Penguin defended her "Captain asked Ari-chan to join of course."

Shachi jumped in as well "She's awesome! She can fight logia devil fruit users!"

The previously only slightly curious Connor's full attention went to her. "What?! How?"

Arianna simply smiled as her mouth was full of food, having never stopped eating since her first bite. Deciding that she's being rude though, she swallowed and answered with words for a change, "I was taught what you call Haki at a young age."

Raising her hand, she covered it in the black armor that allowed her to kill the jaguar. After allowing the two men to see it Arianna released the energy with a toothy smile before returning to eating her meal, unwittingly giving all four men and bear something else to stare at her about.

"Ari-chan. What happened to your teeth?" Penguin asked. Still chewing she simply cocked her head to the side, silently asking him what he meant.

"You look like you have some kind of wild animal's fangs instead of human canines." Marcus further explained his friend's question.

Swallowing her current mouthful Arianna said in a challenging tone pointing her fork at the man, "Who's to say you guys aren't the one with messed up teeth? Everyone in my family has them like this."

Before the group could debate the matter of her fangs being normal or not, Law and Bart walked into the galley, immediately earning the whole room's attention despite not saying anything. They simply walked to the window, got food, and then Bart walked to the table furthest from the door to sit, while Law walked to the group that was around Arianna, immediately addressing Bepo. "When you finish eating go to the navigation room and get the ship moving on to the next island."

His order earned an, "Aye, aye!" from the ever cheery bear.

Then turning to Arianna and ordering "Stand up." Which she did, swallowing what was her last bite too in case he expected her to say something. Instead he turned away from her to address the whole crew sternly. "This is Arianna. She's our newest crewmember. I expect no problems from any of you concerning her."

Wanting to make a good impression to the crew she was now a part of Arianna smiled, "It's nice to be here! Let's all get along!"

There was a collective sound of happy noises from the men. Sitting back down since she didn't know where to go with her food done, she simply looked at the men around her and glancing at the captain that commanded them all.

Law looked at her then switched his gaze to Connor since he didn't have any food with him to begin with, "Show her around the sub. She's going to be staying in storage room F. When you're done take her to the infirmary."

Connor stood up, giving a "Yes, sir." with Arianna standing as well and Law taking what was her spot next to Bepo.

Following the black haired man through the submarine, Arianna didn't seem to be capable of being more amazed at the whole ship. Connor couldn't seem more bored though. He explained the various levels of the large ship. The top of the sub was entrance and infirmary. The next level down was a variety of storage rooms, three separate training rooms, and a bathroom that was simply a room with two rows of about eight shower and a wall with a row of toilet stalls. The third level was where all of the crew quarters were.

Each room had four beds sticking out of the wall with drawers attached to the underside of each. The only exceptions to the shared rooms rule was Law, Bepo, Bart, and now her. Law as captain gets his own quarters, no one wants to bunk with Bepo, and Bart to too big to share a room. Also on the third level was the galley and kitchen. The bottom level was split into two parts the navigation room, which is where Bepo and Bart could be found a lot of the time as one of them needed to be there at all times if the ship wasn't anchored, and the engine room. The whole tour took about thirty minutes, having started on the bottom and working their way up since Connor was supposed to take Arianna to the infirmary when finished. When they reached it Law was there and waiting.

"Thank you Connor, you can go." Was all Law needed to say for the man to happily leave. Motioning Arianna to sit in a chair not too far from him, Law walked to a small metal cabinet of only two drawers, opening one and pulling out a blank file. While he did this the girl looked around the room. It was fairly big in her opinion, but then reasoned that she didn't know how such a room would normally be sized. There were beds nailed down off to the side with a large machine standing close to them, and large, flat, uncomfortable looking beds that stood on wheels close by.

Just behind the beds there was a door. Throughout the wall behind the chair she now sat in there were glass door cabinets, all with various glass bottles in them, over a counter that had a sink. The wall she was facing was mostly bare, similar cabinets and a counter ran along half of the wall, stopping at the metal cabinet with the files, which was next to a desk with her new captain sitting in a chair at it.

Turning to her, Law finally began speaking. "I needed to ask you questions for a medical file; I like to keep one on every crewmember since I'm also the ship's doctor."

Smiling at finally getting something to do, Arianna told him. "Ask away."

()

A small smile twitching on his lips as the doctor began, not realizing what he was in for. "How old are you?"

"21."

"When's your birth day?"

"April 22."

"How tall are you?"

"No clue." She answered plainly.

"How much do you weigh?"

"No clue." Once again.

Sighing Law tried a different kind of question "What's your blood type?"

She snickered at this "Warm."

Law just looked at her with an expression that showed he didn't think her answer was funny. "I'm serious."

"Me too. Do you get a lot of lizard and snake people on the crew?" She was clearly half joking, the other half sincerely didn't understand the question of her blood type.

"Not all blood between the same species is the same Arianna-ya. Since you obviously don't know I'll take some of your blood and find out along with your measurements." Law answered with a practice sense of calmness.

Now she was looking at him with a small smile "That's the first time you used my name." Law wasn't sure if there was a point to the comment so he just looked at her silently. "Even though you asked me to tell you my name you only called me 'Huntress-ya.' I was seriously beginning to question if you actually remembered it even though I remembered yours Trafalgar Law." She explained.

"You're in my crew now, so I should call you by your name, but as my subordinate you are to call me Captain. Understood?"

Arianna seemed a little troubled by this, her eyes going hazy. Obviously having some kind of internal debate that left Law a little curious but decided to hold off on forcing her to tell him depending on what she says next. Conflict apparently resolved her eyes focused back to her captain and finally answered "Understood, Captain."

Deciding to continue, Law resumed his questions "Where are you from?"

She seemed a little confused by the question "Yassun"

Looking up at her, Law questioned her answer "You said that was your name."

"The first part of it. Why would you ask me something I've already told you?"

Slightly annoyed now, "I asked where you're from, not your name."

Annoyance started to build in Arianna, but then her expression jumped instantly to embarrassment, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. "Your people don't have where they're from as part of your name do you?"

*_Your birthplace as part of your name?* _Law questioned this point to himself but answered "No. What do you mean by 'your people'?"

"My people use the term Worlders. It's simply anyone who isn't one of us."

"Us?"

Nodding a yes, she explained further "My Family is one of a handful of Tribes. We are Nomads, mostly in the New World. That's why we have the location we were born in as part of our name. Anyone who isn't a Tribesman is a Worlder. Worlders are divided into two groups: Landers, people who live in one place, and Nomads, people like us who are always sailing. Pirates, merchants and most Marines are all called Nomads by my people. Oh, and you won't find Yassun on a map or anything. We use our own names for islands since we rarely come in contact with Landers."

This new information was a surprise to Law. He had never heard of nomadic tribes in the New World, not that information of that whole half of the Grand Line was easy to come by. Thinking about what she had said in the forest concerning her family Law came to the conclusion that Tribesmen were likely to all be powerful, especially if they survived without contact with towns. Returning his focus to the Tribe girl before him, he realized she, may have truly been a lucky find. "I'm out of questions. I'm going to take some blood and measure your height and weight then you can go. Pull up your sleeve so I can get to the inside of your elbow." He told her as he was already gathering a needle and alcohol.

Loosening a tie on the cuff of her sleeve, Arianna pulled it up to her elbow as asked. As Law was pulling her blood she asked "Where am I supposed to go?"

"Back to the galley. Our chef, Thomas, can always use another hand in feeding the crew. When your duty is over the storage room should be cleared for you to use as a bedroom; I told Penguin, Shachi and Marcus to get started on it after they finished eating."

"Thank you." She said with a big smile, showing her fangs to him for the first time, catching him off guard. Unlike the others though, Law didn't say a word, having decided it was associated with the Tribes. After measuring her: 5 feet 3 inches and 125 pounds, Law dismissed her to her duties, pleased with the fact that this odd creature of a girl was now a member of his crew.

* * *

**Authors Note:**

**April 22 is Earth Day, and since Arianna is a little wild and animalistic I thought it would be a fun match.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Any comments, criticisms, and reviews are welcome. As long as it's not aggressive/mean (and I promise I won't take being told something is poorly written or pointless as mean.)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Having been on the submarine for a few days now Arianna was growing used to the oddness of a solid metal ship. So use to in fact that she was starting to become annoyed with it. She missed having the sky above her, now when she looked up all she saw was metal. Luckily Bepo and Bart would make a point of surfacing for a couple of hours a day to sail at the top of the water and allow the crew some fresh air. For some of that time the captain would give his navigators a break and let them anchor the ship so that they can get some air too. Once outside Bepo would usually dance around on the deck before laying down to take a nap. Once he was down, Law would often recline on his body and take a nap as well. Arianna couldn't help but wonder if the man was so busy that he was always tired or he was just that lazy. She wanted to say that he was that busy, considering the dark circles constantly under his eyes, but wasn't sure what he could be so busy doing. The navigators plotted the course and controlled the ship, and the mechanics maintained it.

Sitting on deck, enjoying the sunlight and air, Arianna was simply staring at the sky. While looking at a cloud that was starting to look more and more like a flower the longer she stared at, she heard the door open and sniffed the air for to see if she could identify the newest addition on deck rather than take her eyes of the cloud. It was Law. She hadn't spoken to him since her first day on the ship, not that it bothered her. In fact not speaking to him made her feel better. When she will, she would have to call him Captain and give him her obedience, and that was something she still isn't certain she can do.

To her relief, Law didn't know the Tribes' customs and therefore didn't know that her respect to him wasn't sincere. When she would explain some of the aspects of the Tribes to Worlders she would often be told that it sounds more like she is describing a pack of wolves, which actually would make sense in her opinion. All living things imitate and adapt to what's around them. So why wouldn't groups of hunters imitate predators that live in groups? As far as showing respect and submission, if it was sincere she would kiss him on the corner of his mouth.

_*I wonder what he would think if I did ever did that. Well, it's something that doesn't happen between Worlders so regardless of what Law would do I know the rest of the crew would make a big deal out of it and accuse me of some type of romantic feeling.* _Now looking at him, she saw that he had taken his usually place against a sleeping Bepo.

_*He has the right idea.* _Arianna thought, laying down and closing her eyes to take a nap herself. The moment of almost sleep didn't last long though, as she immediately felt a poking on her shoulder. "Ari-chan!" It was Shachi.

"Thomas wanted me to tell you that it's time for you to go to the kitchen." Pouting, she looked at him as if it would get him to take her place in the ship so she could enjoy being outside longer.

Despite smiling and blushing slightly at her expression, Shachi just walked over to the railing to avoid actually having to say no to the girl.

"Everyone has their own job to do Arianna-ya. So go do yours." Now sitting up she looked at where the additional voice came from. He still looked asleep, but was obviously aware of what passed between his two subordinates.

_*Does Law actually sleep when up here, or pretend?* _However Arianna did as told, taking in one more deep breath before going down to the kitchen. It was a pretty easy straight shot down the stairs, no way to get lost (which she did multiple times her first two days). Making it to the galley and through the door to the kitchen, Arianna nearly walked face-first into the chef running it.

"Sorry Tom-san." Arianna was quick to apologize because whether or not it was her fault, as far as Thomas was concerned it definitely would not be his fault.

"Get started on chopping the tomatoes, we're having sandwiches for lunch today." Never one for pleasantries, Thomas went straight to giving his newest helper her task for the meal shift. As the newest member of the kitchen she was always given the easiest tasks of the meals which usually meant chopping, boiling and skinning vegetables. She tried not to be bothered by it, but Arianna couldn't help but feel a little irritated by the lack of trust in her ability to cook basic meals. She lived on her own for two years, and even before that she was usually cooking her own meals. *_Why do I still get stuck with chopping?! I can cook any meat, fish or wild vegetation over a fire or in a boiling pot.*_

Stopping half way through her cut she looked around the kitchen, at the odd contraptions that the men all around her used to prepare the meals that the crew ate every meal. She could feel the confusion build up just looking at the dials and knobs. Her eyebrows twitch in uncertainty. *_On second thought, there's a good chance I'll set this place on fire.* _Some of the other kitchen workers finished they left to gather the rest of the crew for an early lunch. As she was the last to come in Arianna was the last worker there, except for Thomas who stayed in the kitchen to cook something else.

Just as she finished cutting the tomatoes and placed them in a tray the alarm went off to signal the ship was diving. "Tom-san I finished. Was there anything else you needed?" Arianna asked expecting him to say no so she can go eat, but she got a different answer.

Turning to her, Thomas handed her a plate of white triangles, she remembered from the day before that they were called rice. "This morning Captain told me that he'd be missing lunch so take that to his cabin."

Her immediate reaction was *_But I'm hungry.* _Though what she actually said was "Why isn't he eating with everyone else?"

Slightly irked at being questioned Thomas answered "I already told you he said he'd being missing lunch. He didn't say why. Now go. You remember where his room is, right?"

Nodding her yes, Arianna left the kitchen and started making her way upstairs, his room being on the same level as the storage rooms so that he'd be closer to the infirmary in case of an emergency. *_Your room's on that floor too.* _A little voice in her head pointed out warningly. *_So! The metal walls are thick and it's not like our rooms are next to each other. He won't notice anything bad.* _Taking a breath to try and calm herself, she looked down at the plate in her hands thinking, *_Why does he get rice triangles when everyone else is eating sandwiches?*_

()

Law sat at his wooden desk and reviewed lists and papers he collected regarding the current activities of various other pirates and Marine Fleets that he put together through rumors and newspapers when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in." He called without looking up.

Arianna entered carrying a plate of riceballs. She looked around, seeming slightly curious, until he pointed at his desk. She walked to it and placed the plate of food at an empty spot in the corner, "Tom-san told me to bring you lunch." Stating quickly and turning to leave.

"Wait. I need to talk to you."

Signing, Arianna turned to him, not even trying to hide her annoyance. Taken back by her attitude, Law didn't say anything at first. Instead he eyed the girl who was clearly eager to leave. He hadn't seen her since the day they met three days ago, with the exception of out on deck but he would barely give her more than a glance since he really just wanted to relax against Bepo in the fresh air. Now that he was actually looking her up and down he noticed that she wasn't dressed head to toe in leather like the first day. While she was wearing the same flat shoes and wristbands, instead of pigtails her hair was kept out of her face with a leather ribbon. She was wearing a sleeveless green shirt and dark blue jeans with some kind of bright red pelt tied around her waist that was longest over her right side, falling to her knee. With her arms now entirely exposed Law noticed that the she was once again wearing three braided bands on her left arm and odd ropes around her neck as she had been every time he noticed her on deck.

"We should be approaching a new island soon, and I wanted to discuss what you will be doing when we are there." Law started, reaching for a riceball. "You are hunter, yes? From now on when we dock at an island I want you to hunt for us while there."

The sudden subject of hunting brought a smile to Arianna's face, and she walked back to the desk "Happily. But I can't carry much by myself, so it could take me a long time, and how much I can collect depends on the island itself. I've seen a lot of islands, and some simply have nothing to offer."

Pleased that she agreed to hunt when on islands, a slight smirk appeared as he took a bite of the food in hand, "Since we haven't been at sea very long we won't need much this time. Simply ask Tom-ya how much meat we need to stock up on when we reach any island."

When she nodded in acknowledgement Law noticed that she was eyeing his hand. Or more like, eyeing the riceball in his hand. "Why are watching my food?"

Blushing slightly and bringing her hands up defensively at being caught "Ah! I didn't get lunch yet because Tom-san told me to bring you lunch. Speaking of which, why did he make you rice triangles? Everyone else is eating sandwiches."

A sharp chuckle escaped Law at her words before he was able to contain it, apparently making Arianna feel very self-conscious about it. "These are called riceballs, not rice triangles, though I can see why you would assume it is. And Tom-ya made them because I don't like bread."

Seeing her blush deepen slightly Law was almost surprised that she didn't know that, but then remembered that there was probably a lot that she didn't know. She basically grew up away from any kind of civilization as far as he could tell. Looking at her and seeing that she was now looking at his plate which had another three riceballs, Law remembered that as part of her kitchen duty she would be expected to clean the galley after everyone left. By the time she got back down there everyone may be done and the cleaning started, leaving her without a meal. "Take one and go back to the galley."

Surprised at his sudden offer of food Arianna excitedly asked, "Really? But it's your lunch."

With a devilish smirk on his face Law looked at her "You probably won't make it back in time to get a lunch of your own. I've heard just how loud your stomach can growl and I'd hate for you to come back empty handed because your appetite scared all the animals away."

Red faced and frowning at the rude comment, Arianna was quick to argue his words, "My stomach only growled that loud because I hadn't had a full meal in days at the time! Unlike you Worlders, Tribesmen have to kill and collect everything they eat. There are no free meals in my Family."

Amused by her childish expression, Law continued to smirk at her, leaning his head on a hand that he propped up off the arm of his chair. "But you were traveling to towns. Why didn't you buy a meal?"

"I only used money to buy information. Why waste it on something I can get on my own?" She responded quickly.

"Fair enough." Law answered as he started to take another bite of the riceball in his hand and going back to reading the papers, before looking back at her again. "Why are you still here? Don't you have a galley to clean?" Her eyebrows twitching in anger, Arianna grabbed one of his riceballs and left the room.

()

True to Law's word the sub reached an island only three hours after lunch. The speed at which the crew traveled for one island to the next amazed Arianna. Docking at the island the whole crew started to gather on the deck and wait for their captain to give them their orders. When Arianna made it up after changing into her hunting clothes she looked around at the men, seeing that they were all just as excited as she was to get on the island, until she found the faces she was looking for. Running over to Shachi, Penguin, Connor and another man that she hadn't met yet who was talking to Connor, she greeted them happily "Hey guys. Marcus isn't here yet?"

"No, not yet. Captain came to the infirmary and said he wanted to talk to him before we docked." Shachi answered, reminding her that both of them were medics. Actually Shachi was the head medic in charge of the infirmary after Law.

The man Arianna didn't know fidgeted. "Um, my name's Oliver. Nice to finally meet you." The man was polite, if a little shy in his greeting. He was dressed in the same boiler suit that the rest of the crew wore, he had odd reddish-blonde hair that was shorter than Connor's but longer than Marcus'. Smiling brightly like always when officially meeting any of the crew members Arianna gave him all of her attention, "Yassun Leya Arianna. Though everyone here seems to just want to call me Ari-chan."

Seeming to grow a little more comfortable with her friendly attitude, Oliver stepped forward a little and gave a small smile, "Do you not like the nickname?" he asked. All eyes in their little group were on her, now concerned that they had actually been annoying her with it.

"Oh, I don't mind it. I know Arianna can be a bit on a mouthful, so feel free to continue it." Arianna put their worries at ease. Wanting in on the conversation with the girl Penguin decided to change the subject. "Why weren't you at lunch today? We wanted to talk to you. You haven't really been around except during meals."

The subject of lunch brought a little twitch of annoyance to Arianna's features. "I had to bring Law his lunch, so I missed it."

As if just saying his name was some kind of summons the pirate walked through the door and on deck with the end of her sentence. Close behind him was Bepo and Marcus. With their arrival that was the whole crew on deck, so Law began giving his orders. "Penguin and Shachi, you two already have your lists of supplies that we need correct? Take your regular groups and restock."

Immediately most of the crew left in two groups, Arianna noticed that Connor followed with Penguin. *_Guess he's a mechanic.* _Now all that was left was the group of kitchen workers, the two navigators, Marcus, Law and Arianna. "Arianna-ya I want you to go hunting now. Marcus-ya is going to go with you." Looking at the man standing with the pirate captain Arianna can see the usual calm expression that he always wore, he wasn't surprised. *_That explains why Law wanted to talk to him before we docked.*_

Nodding, she turned to walk off the ship and straight to the town, with Marcus just behind her. This town was larger than the previous one, and not only were there more people but they did not hold the same look of perpetual fear that everyone on Feral Enclave held. Most didn't seem to notice the two walking straight through town, though those who did were obviously doing their best to avoid them. It was the reaction that Arianna was used to, Marcus too seeing as he didn't seem to take notice of it. Looking forward, past all of the buildings, the tips of trees were present indicating a forested area outside the human settlement. The silence from the tall man was starting to annoy her, so Arianna chose to break it. "This town seems to be kind of big. I don't know if the forest is going to be full with prey or not."

Marcus still seemed bored, but got the hint that she didn't want the silence between them to continue, "Captain just wants you to bring in as much as you can."

Turning around to look at him and walk backwards, "What are you planning to do while I hunt?" she asked smiling.

"I'm staying with you." Marcus' eyes narrowed slightly when he answered.

This stopped her in her tracks. "You can't. Your presence will scare all the animals way. You should just stay somewhere that I can find you to help me carry what I kill back."

"Too bad. Captain told me to stay with you, so that's what I will do." She sighed at this.

"So you're not here to help me carry everything back, but to babysit me."

"What did you honestly expect? You've only just joined the crew. We don't fully trust you yet."

"Afraid that I might turn on the crew, but he has only one of his subordinates watch me. Law insults me." Her words came out somewhat playfully, but Marcus could hear a slight threat in the way she made a point of saying only one, and how her eyes glanced to the rope dart coiled at his belt loop.

"I'm no weakling. And that's 'Captain', not 'Law'." Marcus ended his point and the conversation by walking away, and continuing to the forest.

_*Well one thing is for sure about him. He's loyal._ _That's something I can understand.* _Lacing her fingers together, she stretched her arms in front of her and pulled them over her head before dropping her hands back to her sides and walking quickly to catch back up to the man who was still walking with his head turned to watch her until she catches up.

()

After telling Arianna and Marcus to go and start hunting, Law decided to have the rest of the crew stay at the ship. It was never smart to leave it completely unprotected, and everything would get put into storage much faster with extra hands. He, however, handed his nodachi to Bepo and the two walked into town just like always. After they left the ship and began walking through town Bepo spoke up. "Captain. Are you sure it was okay to have only Marcus go with Ari-chan? We don't know exactly how strong she is. What if he isn't enough to fight her?"

Law was calm and confident as always when he gave his answer. "Marcus-ya is one of the strongest members on the crew. Not only that but we do know that Arianna-ya is a close ranged fighter, since Marcus-ya fights from some distance he'd be one of the safest combatants to have against her. I also told him to contact me on the den den mushi if he doesn't think he can handle her on his own."

A smile came to the polar bears face, his worries gone. "If you say so. To a bar like always?"

"Yeah. Time to get some information."

* * *

**Wohoo, done! I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted to do the second half of the chapter, so this was what I decided on. The whole chapter feels a little slow, but I wanted to start having more interactions between the characters. I felt like I wasn't giving Marcus enough attention last chapter and that he was just kind of there in contrast to the other characters, but I really like his character and once you read more about him I hope you will too. :)**

**I also wanted to give a special thank you to Son of Whitebeard for your comments, they are very much appreciated and I hope you enjoy the new chapter :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello and welcome to chapter 6! It's very embarrassing for me to say but it was recently pointed out to me that this entire time I had been writing "captain" as "capitan". I honestly did not catch that despite proof reading each chapter. I guess that's what happens when I read a book with a character name El Capitan :P. And as always I welcome any comments, criticisms, and corrections :)**

**Edit: Disregard above. All chapters had since been edited.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Marcus was once again walking close behind Arianna, watching her every step for anything suspicious. Every now and then she would glance back at him, and at first he thought she was glancing at him in annoyance but the more she did it the more certain he was that it wasn't annoyance in her face but amusement. She seemed to think that it was a game.

Yes, it wasn't Arianna who was growing annoyed, it was Marcus. _*How could someone who knows that she was being watched by the people she is traveling with, out of distrust be so amused by the whole situation. Doesn't this girl take anything seriously?* _The more Marcus pondered the girl's behavior the more annoyed he grew. Looking at her two weapons, he then thought about the unspoken threat she made to him. He could see that she was a close ranged fighter, that's part of why the captain chose him to watch the girl, but how much they knew of her strength was still almost nothing. Marcus can only hope that she behaves herself while he gets a better understanding of her abilities. When they finally reached the edge of town Arianna started using her hunting knife to cut some branches then sat down and began pulling out bands of leather from a pocket of her pants. "Are you sure you won't wait for me here?"

Instead of answering Marcus gave her a stern look.

She began further shaping the branches that she cut and tying the leather to them. "Fine. But please stay quiet and keep your distance from the traps that I set up. The animals will smell you around them and keep away."

"They will be scared of me but not you?" Marcus was certain that she was planning something now.

"My scent is better hidden because my hunting clothes are made of animal skins, plus I naturally have a more earthy smell than you. It's a Family trait." Arianna sighed out an explanation, probably seeing his suspicion.

Marcus can't say for sure if she was telling the truth or not, he's not a hunter. "I want you in my sight at all times."

Having apparently finished building her little traps, Arianna gathered them all and proceeded further into the forest, calling over her shoulder. "Can't guarantee anything."

After walking for about twenty minutes Arianna stopped at a small bush and set up one of the traps, eyeing Marcus to make sure that he didn't approach it. The deeper they walked the more she repeated the process at various spots: in front of a bush, a bit of grass, around roots and around fallen branches. As far as he could see nothing about the places she left the traps at seemed to stand out from the rest of the forest, but Marcus didn't question her since she was behaving. With the last trap set up Marcus turned around to make his way back to town but realized that Arianna was continuing further in the opposite direction. "Where are you going? Town is back this way."

"I know. I'm not going back to town yet. All we did was set some traps, I'm still going to catch some prey directly since only small animals can be caught with snares. Aren't I supposed to 'bring back as much as I can'?" Arianna was obviously making a point of using his earlier words, all the while having a mischievous smile on her face.

_*She's still playing her little game.* _The annoyance was back in Marcus, in full force too. "Fine. Now how do you plan on catching large animals? With your hands?"

"Something like that. Oh and this is when you may not be able to keep your eyes on me, but you need to be silent or else we won't get close enough to anything. Just thought I'd tell you in advance." Giving Marcus her insincere warning in a singsong voice, leaving his facial features twitching in anger. Staying silent though, he followed her further. After about five minutes of walking in quiet Arianna turned to the man behind her, arms crossed with a look that was somewhere between a pout and an annoyed frown. "I told you to be silent."

"I am." Marcus was certain that she was fishing for a reason to convince him that she would do better alone.

She sighed, "You're not talking sure, but you're not being silent either. Anything that has ears within a half mile of us can hear you clomping around. Since you won't leave me to do my work alone, at least try not to make it any more difficult than it naturally is." With her short lecture finished, the huntress resumed walking. It was then that Marcus noticed that she made no sound at all, not stepping on any twigs or crunchy leaves despite not appearing to pay any attention her immediate surroundings. It was like watching a ghost move around the trees, visible but actually existing in another plain. When Marcus started walking again he decided to put some of his focus on the ground before him, making sure he didn't step on anything that could cause noise as well as trying to soften his actual steps. He must've been doing better because Arianna glanced back at him, this time with a small smile.

()

Wandering around this time instead of going directly to the closest bar, Law and Bepo took in the new town. It was peaceful and quiet. The people seemed friendly and lighthearted. There were smiles and laughing children everywhere. It was boring. Law could only hope that the log post sets quickly so they can leave quickly. Having had enough of the happy atmosphere that the whole town was producing, Law finally decided to go to a bar and start getting information.

The first bar they found was called Rocky Side Tavern. _*At least the name's a bit more creative than the last one we went to.* _Entering the bar, Law wasn't surprised that it was practically empty and that the few patrons that were there eyed the pirate uneasily. As was his usual pattern, he went to the bartender and ordered a beer. The bartender gave him a friendly greeting though, "Welcome. I've never seen you before. New to the island?"

The fact that the man doesn't seem to recognize Law from a wanted poster caught him off guard, but he decided to ignore it. "Yeah. Do you mind sharing some information? What the name of the island and town is, and how long the log post takes to set for instance."

The bartender wore a friendly smile when he answered, "The Island is Breezy Cove. Since this is the only town on it we use the same name. The log post takes fifty hours to set."

Law sighed, disappointed to hear that they will have to be on the boring island for so long. "Anywhere for my crew to stay while we wait for it to set?" Law could feel Bepo radiating happiness after hearing that they won't be staying on the ship. At least they had enough money to stay on the island instead of the ship for the two nights.

"The upstairs of the tavern functions as a small inn. How many rooms would you be needing?"

The island seemed friendly enough that it would be safe to leave the ship unguarded, besides whenever they have to decide who stays behind whomever ends up so unlucky tends to complain loudly. Doing a quick count of 14 pirates doubling up in a room, then Jean Bart and Arianna getting their own… "Nine rooms."

"Great. Since you and your crew are the only visitors you'll have the whole upstairs to yourselves too."

_*Good.*_ He paid for the beer and told the man "We'll be back later."

When Law turned to walk out he saw Bepo's ear twitch in the direction of the few patrons sitting in the back and a frown form on his face. Once they made it outside the bar he waited for his first mate to tell him what he heard. "The men in the back of the bar said that there are Marines that are stationed close by. Apparently they are called whenever a ship docks at the island. The man said they will be here by tomorrow."

_*So that's why the whole island is so carefree, the Marines are always close at hand for them.*_ Law's wicked smirk was back on his face "Perhaps this island isn't going to be as boring as it seems. Let's head back to the ship for the time being. Once everyone is accounted for and I've spoken to Marcus-ya we are going to take another look around and find what it is that the Marines are so protective of."

Seeing that his captain was eager for the enemy to come and give him some entertainment Bepo gave a cheery "Aye Captain!"

()

Continuing deeper than Marcus thought they would be, he started to worry that they might not be able to find their way back out of the forest. Just as he was about to tell Arianna that they should turn around and return to the ship she stopped him and placed a finger to her lips, indicating he stay silent, she then pointed at him and then point down. She wanted him to stay there. Marcus opened his mouth to yell at her. _*How many times have I said it? You aren't leaving my sight!* _But she didn't wait for him to say anything. She darted into the shadows of some trees and was immediately out of sight. Marcus started to chase her but he wasn't sure where she was now. Suddenly a weird cry pierced the air, it was a sound that he had never heard before.

Next thing he knew there was a herd of deer running straight at him in a panic. Just as they were passing him he heard the girl's voice yell out at him as she was running in his direction "Don't just stand there!"

*_She wants me to catch one?!* _Even if Marcus wanted to catch a deer he wasn't sure how. Realizing that he wasn't sure what to do, Arianna took matters into her own hands. Sprinting towards the closest deer, a good sized doe, she then leaped on its back and thrusted her right hand into the base of its skull. It fell in an instant, the girl still on its back with her right hand firmly in place. After waiting a few seconds for any signs of life the girl decided that the deer was dead and stood up, removing her hand. When she did Marcus was surprised to see a somewhat long but thin dagger sticking out from her right wrist. Facing him, Arianna simply cracked a smile at his confusion.

Holding her hand out, palm and blade up, she used her thumb to tug at one of the pieces of twine that run up her palm and the blade immediately retracted back into a small slit on her sleeve. "I told you. I'll catch bigger prey with something like my hands. Can you grab this one? I'm going to go get the other one." She then ran off again, disregarding his earlier warning that she needs to stay in his sight. Realizing that it was useless to try and tell her what to do at this point though, Marcus pick the doe up and slung its body behind his neck and held the legs on his shoulders. When Arianna reappeared carrying a slightly smaller deer in the same way as him. To his surprise she didn't seem to so much as stagger in her steps despite the heavy animal she was now carrying, in fact she was smiling, "I'm done. We should head back and check the traps along the way." Marcus turned and started to walk in the opposite direction, but then felt a tug on his boiler suit. "Wrong way." She nearly laughed out, before walking in a different direction.

Though embarrassed, Marcus was curious. "How can you be certain? When the deer ran past there was a lot of confusion."

"Do you often get turned around in towns?"

"No, nothing looks alike in a town."

"Well, forests are the same. All trees look different, but buildings tend to look the same to me. And no matter what I can simply follow the scent trail you left behind." To Marcus' surprise, there was no smugness or amusement in her explanation. She seemed happy yes, but her words seemed to be more matter-of-fact than almost anything else she had said today. But of course she did bring up a new question with her answer.

"Follow my scent trail?"

"All people have their own scent. Wouldn't that be common knowledge, even to Worlders?"

"I know that, we even have Bepo track people when necessary. But, how could you follow it?"

"A good hunter needs good senses. And I have hundreds of years of ancestor hunters behind me."

_*Generations of natural adaptation? At this point it could be argued that her Tribesmen are evolved humans.* _The thought scared the medic a little, not that he showed it. "Fine then. Lead the way."

()

When Law returned to the ship Shachi's group had already returned with the medical supplies that they had gotten. Though they actually didn't use any since the last town, it also didn't have everything they needed to restock. Just then he heard the sound of a den den mushi ringing. His immediate thought was that his new subordinate had turned on the snail he found that he had nothing to be concerned about. "_Hey Captain, it's me."_

"Marcus-ya. What do you have to report?"

"_We are coming back to the ship now. We brought in a good haul, so Thomas-san won't need to restock on any meat."_

In the back-round Law could hear the girl's voice barking out _"What do you mean 'we'?! I did all the work, you just hovered over me like a vulture!" _

Sighing at her complaint, Law was otherwise content with learning that the girl's first hunt for the Heart Pirates was a success. "Just head back to the ship then."

"_Yes sir." _And with that Marcus hung up.

Seeing Thomas sitting on the deck, Law went to the chief. "Thomas-ya. Marcus-ya just told me that they will be bringing back enough meat so you don't need to buy any in town."

"Thanks Captain. We'll be back soon then." Rounding up his kitchen workers, Thomas led them into town. Not too long afterwards Penguin and his group made it back as well. All that was left for the time being was for Thomas to come back with his group and for Marcus to return with Arianna, so Law saw no harm in letting the crew and himself take it easy while they wait. With the whole crew out either on deck or the dock Law decided to kick back against a crate on the dock and read a book from the collection in his room, this one in particular was explaining a new anesthesia. Though he was trying to focus on the book he couldn't really read it with the crew members talking so close to him, well it was Shachi, Penguin, and Connor talking with Oliver listening in with the loud ones to be exact.

"I wonder what Ari-chan is bringing back for us." Shachi commented to the group.

"I hope it's something good. I don't think I've ever had fresh meat before." Penguin followed suit with his admittance.

"From what I've heard, fresh meat tastes way better than store bought." Connor's turn to put in his two-cents apparently.

Next Penguin made a humming noise "I know we saw her kill a jaguar and all, but I still can't quite imagine Ari-chan stalking and killing animals then eating them."

"Yeah, she's so small and sweet. It's kind of hard to picture it." Shachi agreed with his best friend.

"Small and sweet or not, you do realize that she wears some kind of animal pelt every day. Where do you think they come from if she's too good to hunt and skin them all?" Connor pointed out the obvious evidence that declared the girl in question to be a skilled killer, at least of animals.

Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere in his book so long as this conversation continued Law ended up adding in to it. "From what she's told me, everyone where she comes from hunt to eat. It's as normal to her as going in to town to buy supplies is to us."

The four men looked at their captain, surprised that he joined the conversation. His input seemed to encourage Oliver to speak up too, because he spoke up for the first time as well. "Captain, I've been wondering. Why did you bring her into the crew in the first place?" He wasn't present when she showed Connor and Marcus, so he must not have known.

"She is skilled in Haki, it's a power we need to master before we make our move into the New World."

Shachi however had a lewd smirk on his face, "Sure. That's why." Earning a laugh from his best friend.

Unfortunately the comment also earned a harsh glare from the man it was directed. "Remind me, how exactly did you convince me to appoint you as head medic under me?"

Penguin was ready to defend his friend, unfortunately he did so with an accusation of his own, "Aw, come one! It's no secret that she's cute! And don't act like you've never disappeared from a bar with a woman or two."

Not liking the direction that the conversation was taking, Oliver tried his best to divert it, "I'm sure that Captain didn't have such motives. You merely want what is best for the crew, right?" ending with a question for Law that they all knew the answer to.

But Shachi didn't seem ready to let him change the subject, so he turned to bullying his shy crewmate, "You only don't like the conversation because you never get any! Seriously, have you gotten a single girl since joining the crew?"

The words left him stunned and silenced, but Connor immediately jumped to his friend's defense. "Don't act like there's something wrong with not sleeping with any girl who's willing to put out!"

Penguin seemed to want to continue the cycle of the argument, "You're only saying that because you get laid as much as him!"

The accusation sent Connor into a fit of laughter, as if Penguin had just told him the greatest joke in the world and not insulted him. Shachi and Penguin were so focused on his strange reaction that they failed to notice Law let out a short laugh and a highly amused smirk come to his face. The two antagonist may have missed it but Oliver didn't and he stared intensely at his captain with a conflicted look in his eyes. When Law locked eyes with him he could see the Oliver desperately want to leave the whole situation. With Connor still laughing Shachi finally seemed to figure out what to say, "It always confuses me when he laughs like that. Hey, don't you realize that it was an insult not a joke?!"

Law decided to answer for Connor while he started to collect himself, "Did it ever occur to you that that's why he laughs? Oliver-ya why don't you go up on deck and watch for Marcus-ya and Arianna-ya? They should be back any moment."

The shy medic smiled at his captain for the chance to escape and looked towards the town that his two crewmates will be coming from, "Actually I don't think that's necessary."

Sure enough the two in question were walking up the deck, both with something large hanging off their shoulders. "Ari-chan!" Of course the two idiots called happily at the girls return completely ignoring their long-time comrade who was walking right next to her.

The girl, of course, greeted them with a sweet smile "Hey guys. Do you know where Tom-san is? He never told me where to put what I brought back."

Law looked at her, taking in what exactly they brought back. Both Arianna and Marcus had a deer slung over their shoulders, while Arianna also had a string of three rabbits and a squirrel hanging from one of her shoulders. Not wanting them standing there with dead animals hanging off their bodies Law gave her an answer to the question. "Thomas-ya is in town getting food. Is it safe to assume that you skin your kills yourself?"

The look on her face perfectly conveyed a sense of having been insulted by the question, "Of course."

"Good. Strip off all the meat for now. Thomas–ya should be back soon to tell you what to do next." Law then turned his attention to Marcus as he stood up, "Leave that for her and come with me."

Offering a "Yes, Captain." Marcus put the deer carcass down and followed him to the sub. As they walked away the two men could hear the girl call out after them in a mocking way, "Bye-bye Mr. Babysitter!"

* * *

**Wow, that chapter ran a little long. I just didn't have a comfortable place to end it. Oh well, more for you to enjoy, or suffer through. Sorry if it still doesn't read well, I'm working on developing my writing ability. Like I warned you at the first chapter, this is my first story. I think it's getting better though. All in all, I hope you like it :)**

**Sarge1130: First off thanks again for bringing up the Capitan and Captain mix-up. It was a typing mistake not me trying to be clever ^^' It's funny that you say that you think Arianna is like San from Mononoke-hime, it's actually one of my favorite movies. But believe it or not her character inspiration didn't really come from it, not consciously anyways, I just wanted to create a character that Law wouldn't really know how to handle but was endearing too, plus I like wolves :). I love hunter-type characters, which came with the added bonus of being an underused character type for Law fanfiction. I honestly choose to have her brought in the crew for the sake of Law learning Haki because it simply makes more sense to me for him to have that kind of reason to bring a girl on the crew than anything else I could think of considering how in the canon story he seems to have an entirely male crew. Don't worry she will grow to honestly respect him, and she will show it. I've already planned out how it's going to happen, so no worries ;) **

**Son of Whitebeard: Um, Bepo didn't do much last chapter, or this one now that I think about it. Thanks for the comment though, it's nice getting feedback to the story :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**As always I welcome any comments, criticisms, and corrections :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Once he entered his room, Law sat down behind his desk and Marcus took the seat in front of it. "So Marcus-ya, what do you think of our newest crewmember?"

"She's a child, that's for sure. But she does concern me. The way she treats knowing that she's being watched as a game; she's confident that she could handle herself if we decide to treat her as an enemy."

Law thought of his subordinate's conclusion. "Did you see anything that suggests her confidence has some standing?"

"I'm sure that we could defeat her but…" Marcus stopped remembering the way she moved like a ghost and the speed at which she downed the deer, "She just might be able to do some damage to our crew."

If almost any other member of the crew had told Law that, he wouldn't give the words much thought, but he trusted Marcus' opinions and observations. "Did you notice any details about her abilities?"

"It seems that at least her sense of smell is stronger than should be possible, but she did refer to all of her senses as good. And she has a small blade on her right wrist that retracts into her sleeve. It's probably under the wristbands that she always wears."

The news that she had a hidden weapon was surprising. She wasn't shy about carrying around her other two, so that she had not made a point of showing off her third weapon to Shachi and Penguin, as they were constantly trying to get close to her, was unexpected. If she had then he would know since he told them to relay anything new they learned about her if it was something that concerned her abilities as a fighter. "Anything else?"

Thinking on everything that happened in the forest the only thing Marcus could come up with was "She said she has trouble telling buildings apart, so she'll probably get lost in towns if left alone."

A little thrown off by the odd piece of information Law chose to mentally file it away. Undecided as to what to do with the rest of the information considering that she did behave herself in bringing back food for the crew and did not make a move against Marcus, Law wanted to wait and continue to watch her. "Thanks for keeping an eye on her. I found us a tavern to stay at for tonight and I will announce our plans for tomorrow before we go, after Thomas-ya returns."

Taking that as his dismissal, Marcus stood up giving a "Not a problem, Captain." and he exited the room. Leaving Law to consider what to do with the new information he was given on the girl, it may not be much but any amount needed to be carefully considered when dealing with someone who was as a much of a wild card as her.

()

Continuing with the task given to her by her "Captain", Arianna was stripping the meat off of the bones of the animals she brought back. Though the process of skinning the pelts while causing as little damage possible then removing the muscles and organs whole from the bones looked a little complicated it was actually quite menial, giving her brain the chance to think on Law and Marcus' distrust of her. *_I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he doesn't trust me, but we interacted so little since I joined that I can't see where I could have done something to make him uncertain. Could it be a normal thing when a new person joins the crew?* _It felt like a reasonable conclusion. Remembering what Penguin had said about Jean Bart having joined the crew not even a week before her, she settled to ask him if he was under scrutiny at first. As if just realizing something her hands stopped their work. *_Why do I care? This arrangement is a means to an end. He's right to be suspicious, I'm going to leave the crew once they become a hindrance to my goal.* _Sighing in thought. *_Well, it's not like I want to hurt them, I just don't want to be one of them.*_ She groaned. *_Why does being deceitful have to be so difficult?! NO! No room to feel guilty! Worlders aren't meant to be Friends of a tribe, their influence can only bring trouble.* _As always the thought of her Family brought the familiar ache of homesickness to her heart. *_Raven. Ike. I wonder where you are now. Are you sailing safely or maybe reached another island? Is it one already on our maps, or a brand new one?*_

"Ah, Arianna. I see you brought us some good meat." Looking up from her bloody work, Arianna saw the face of Thomas. He had put down the load he was carrying back to the ship to inspect his newest helper's haul, looking at the furs set aside to identify the piles of meat. "We could easily use the deer. Maybe if you can collect some more rabbit it could make for good stew. But there's nothing I can do with that squirrel. Why did you bother with it?"

Inspecting the squirrel that she just happened to be currently stripping of meat for any sign of being spoiled somehow, worried her wondering mind caused her to miss something, she saw nothing. "What do you mean you can't do anything with it? It's perfectly healthy, nothing's wrong with the meat."

"Why would we eat a squirrel?" Thomas was starting to sound a little impatient again. Why? Arianna had no clue.

"If you don't want it then I'll keep it for myself. Meat is meat, what kind of animal it comes from doesn't make it inedible." And with that Arianna returned to her nearly finished work.

"Fine then. We are going to start taking what you have done down to the freezer in the kitchen along with the food we bought in town." Retaking the crate that he had put down, Thomas went into the ship. Having been left to her work, Arianna quickly finished and gathered the furs and some of the bones then retreated to her room, she changed back into her dark blue pants, green shirt and tying the fox pelt back to her waist. Grabbing her bag she rolled up the pelts and put them and the bones in it for later, she then returned outside. Finding a clear spot on the ground, Arianna built a small fire and using her knife she sharpened a couple of long sticks and skewered the chucks of squirrel before placing it over the fire to cook it. Her mouth started to water at the sight of the cooking meat. She was so focused on the meat that she didn't notice the man walking up behind her. "What are you doing?"

"Ahh!" The girl couldn't stop herself from jumping with a shriek. Turing around she saw Oliver, who looked just as startled having not expected her scream.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." The shy medic quickly apologized.

Taking a deep breath with a hand over her heart, Arianna calmed herself. "No, don't be. I shouldn't have been so focused on the meat. And to answer your question I'm cooking this squirrel for myself since Tom-san said he doesn't want it."

"Okay, so why are you cooking it out here over a fire? Why not use the kitchen?"

"I don't know how to cook on those things." She answered bluntly, watching the cooking meat again.

Chuckling softly, Oliver sat down next to her. "You should hold off on eating it. We usually go into town when we're done restocking, and since we brought in a good amount of money at Feral Enclave we might actually eat there."

"Oh. I guess I'll just save it then." Arianna was slightly disappointed at being told she should wait to eat, she was looking forward to her first fire cooked meal since tagging along with the Heart Pirates. Looking over at the blondish man next to her, she couldn't help but smile a little. "You're rather polite and quiet for someone living such a dangerous lifestyle. Why are you sailing as a Heart Pirate?"

To say Oliver was shocked at the question would be an understatement. He started to fidget uncomfortably.

Realizing it was apparently a private matter, Arianna decided to calm him. "I get it, I get it. It's your secret."

No longer fidgeting, Oliver gave her a small smile in relief.

The meat adequately cooked, Arianna removed the pieces from the stick, sliding them directly into a smallish bag she kept in the large one slung across her shoulder rather than waiting for them to cool down to handle with her hands. As she was putting the fire out she heard Law's voice call out louder than she ever heard him. "Everyone gather on deck!"

Double checking that the fire was put out, she stood up and followed Oliver back to the ship's deck. He quickly found a spot next to Connor who nodded in greeting at the two, then looked towards the door into the ship where the captain stood. Looking around, Arianna spotted Shachi, Penguin and Marcus all talking amongst each other, Tom-san discussing something that was likely cooking related to one of the men she recognized from the kitchen, Austin if she remembered correctly, and Bart sitting near the railing with his arms crossed, waiting for the reason of this meeting to be announced. Once the whole crew was on deck Law began speaking.

"The log post takes fifty hours to set. Tonight we will be eating and staying at a tavern in town. The ship will be in no danger for the first night so everyone can come." At this the whole crew cheered unable to contain themselves. Law apparently expected it because he stopped talking and waited for the noise to die down. "Apparently there are Marines on their way to this island and they are expected to be here tomorrow. Which means no one is to drink too much. I don't want to see a single one of you hung over tomorrow." The stern look on his face said that this was a direct order. And an obvious unhappiness came over a majority of the crew, their plans clearly ruined. Ignoring the new general unhappiness of the men, the captain continued on. "We are staying at Rocky Side Tavern. Everyone can have free time for the rest of the day; just make sure you are prepared for a fight tomorrow. That's all."

The news of free time seemed to be enough to at least somewhat lift the crew's spirits and they started to clear out with smiles on their faces, except for Bepo who stood close to Law. Arianna turned to leave as well, only to hear "Not so fast Arianna-ya."

Looking at the man with a frown, she whined out "Why? You said 'everyone' gets free time."

Keeping a serious look on his face Law answered, "When I recruited you the reason was your Haki. I want you to start teaching it to me."

She was only slightly surprised by his words. Arianna already knew that he couldn't use Haki and that she could had a lot to do with his recruiting her, but she somehow didn't realized that he was expecting her to teach him. The request also caught Bepo's attention, "I thought we were going to search the island for what the Marines are protecting."

Looking over at his first mate Law shrugged it off, "I decided this would be a better use of time."

Truth be told, she didn't want to teach him, at least right not now. So she gave him her reply. "No."

At first Law was shocked that she so bluntly refused, but anger was quick to replace it. Glaring at the defiant girl he told her "That wasn't a request. I'm telling you, you are going to start teaching me Haki."

Not liking the look he was giving her, Arianna decided to restate her refusal in a way he will accept. "Everyone needs to be ready to fight Marines tomorrow, right? Haki training is very exhausting, if we start today there's a good chance that you still won't be back to full strength tomorrow. So why not wait until you will have the time to rest before going into a fight?"

Though he could see her point, Law still didn't like that she was refusing his order to start training him. "We're pirates. There's never a guaranteed moment of safety. It's only because the Marines are coming from a base and the townspeople said that it takes them a full day to reach the island that we know we are safe for the night."

Still trying to talk her way out of teaching him, Arianna further pointed out "But you do know for certain that we are going into a fight, so why risk you being tired for it?"

Hearing the reasoning Bepo spoke up concerned, "She has a point. We don't know how heavily the training will affect you. What if it does tire you out too much and something happens tomorrow because of it?"

Looking at Bepo, Law knew he wasn't going to get anywhere if his first mate was against it. The bear was one of the few crewmembers whose input he would seriously consider in a decision. "Before we leave this island, we will have begun the training." He made sure this statement was perfectly clear with no room to argue.

Not even trying to hiding her happiness at having gotten out of the training, at least for today, Arianna turned back towards town with a big smile on her face, "Understood! I'm going to go back to the forest then!"

"No you're not." He immediately shut down her plans.

Now clearly unhappy, she turned back to him with a pout on her face, "Why not? I wanted to spend my afternoon walking around the forest."

"You get lost in towns easily correct?"

She flinched at the question, slightly blushing. Obviously a yes.

"I'm taking you to the tavern and you are to stay there."

The thought of being stuck in a building for the rest of the day made her desperate. "Can't I just come with you for whatever it is you're doing?" There was a certain begging tone to the question.

Pleased that she was unhappy, Law smirked. "No. You had your chance to stay out. Now come."

Leading the girl to the tavern, Law would glance back in satisfaction at her expression. She looked like she wanted to throw a tantrum, but instead kept a pouty frown up. She kept the pout up on her face until she saw a fairly good sized tree, so she called out to Law and Bepo "Hold on."

When they stopped and turned to look at her, she trotted over to the tree and jumped up into its branches. Walking over to the tree, Law called up the obvious question "What are you doing?"

"Gathering branches." She answered plainly, as if it was the most normal thing to do. What she didn't realize was that there were plenty of people looking up at the oddity in the tree. When she had cut an arm full of branches from the tree with her tomahawk she leapt down and looked up at Law, "Alright lets go."

This time Bepo decided to ask the obvious question, at least it was obvious to everyone who wasn't Arianna. "Why did you gather a bunch of branches?"

If her confused expression was any indicator, the question was definitely far from obvious to her, "I need them." Her answer was to the point, and lacked any actual explanation.

Sighing Law turned to resume walking, "I don't care anymore. Let's just go."

Finally arriving to the tavern, the three saw that there were actually a few of the crew members already there and eating. The sight of food reminded Arianna that she wanted to eat dinner. Law walked over to the bartender and retrieved keys for the girl and himself. "This is your room key. You're going to be staying by yourself."

She turned her wrist to take the key, careful to not drop any of the branches in her hands. "How generous. I was certain that you would make me and Mr. Babysitter room together. Worried I might try to hurt him in his sleep perhaps?"

Not bothering to acknowledge her mocking question, he continued on with what he was saying, "Your room in between mine and Marcus-ya's. So I'm not worried about you sneaking out. And if you do we will find you, rest assured." Law smirked confidently in his words.

Arianna started to smirk at the man herself, seeing his words more as a challenge than a warning.

Wanting to stop the situation before it got out of hand, Bepo took a step towards the girl, "How about I help you carry those upstairs and find your room?"

The distraction worked. Smiling kindly at the bear, Arianna nodded gratefully "Please."

Planning on giving him only half of the load she was surprised when Bepo took all of the branches. Law decided to stay down stairs and ordered a drink before heading out to search as was his original plan for the afternoon. Walking up the stairs, Arianna and Bepo came to a long hallway that ran the length of the building, which turned out to be longer than it looked from outside. Arianna took a step forward, letting her foot fall a little heavier than she normally would, and the wooden floor groaned loudly. *_So that's why he's certain I can't sneak out.* _Lightening her footsteps, Arianna was irritated to find that her every step earned a squeak or groan of some kind. Finding the door that matched the room number on her key, Arianna opened it so that Bepo could come in. Looking around she saw two small beds, a small dresser, a nightstand in between the two beds with a lamp, and a door that lead to a small bathroom. The sight of a private bathroom was a huge relief to her. She had been rushing through her showers out of fear that one of the men would walk in on her. Bepo placed the wood on the floor and smiled reassuringly to the girl. "I'm sorry you aren't allowed out."

"Why is that? I was wondering if maybe it's just that I'm new, but somehow that doesn't seem right." She grumbled out, arms crossed.

"I think Captain is uncertain of your loyalty. You said that you were hunting someone and that's why you didn't want to join the crew at first. But you changed your mind so quickly and without much persuading, so it makes him suspicious."

_*So that's it.* _"I changed my mind quickly because when I actually thought about it I realized it would be beneficial for me to sail with the crew. I would probably still be on Feral Enclave if I hadn't and I figured that pirates get a lot of dangerous situations right? I know I'm not strong enough to even be an annoyance to them yet, so this is a good way for getting stronger." She explained the reasoning behind her quick decision change while avoiding actually addressing the matter of her loyalty. She was never good at lying, having once been told a blind and deaf man could catch her in a lie, she would simply radiate guilt from it. So she learned a different form of deception, telling only part of the truth and leaving out the part that you wanted to hide.

That explanation was enough for Bepo, who was smiling cheerily, "In that case I'll tell him that I don't think he should be worried about anything. But until then don't do anything to make him more suspicious. I should go. Here's some money to buy food and drinks downstairs, bye Ari-chan!" After handing her about 3000 beri from his pocket, the bear left Arianna alone in the room.

Feeling stuffy already, Arianna decided to open the window. Looking out she could only see the buildings across the street, no trees or sense of nature in sight. It was upsetting to her. *_I might as well be locked in the sub. Though, I know I could jump out the window without getting hurt. But Bepo said he'll talk to Law about trusting me and that I should continue to behave until then.* _When she looked down she saw Law and Bepo walking a little ways down the street already; a polar bear in an orange suit and a tall man with a fuzzy spotted hat carrying a huge sword really stood out. With nothing else to do the girl walked over to the pile of branches, sat down and emptied out her bag of the pelts, bones and the leather throngs that she had previously used for the traps. *_I should get this done before anything else.*_

Unrolling the pelts, she made a square with the branches sized to each one. Once all the squares were sufficiently tied together, she pulled out small hook shaped bones, rib bones from fish, and measured equal spaces in the squares. At each spot she carved a small notch in the wood, then wedged the bones into them. Next she hooked the pelts into the square and leaned them against the wall to admire her work. The two deer, three rabbit, and one squirrel hides all stretched and airing out. *_They are good quality furs.*_

Now that the last part of her hunter work was complete, she grabbed the money and key that had been left on one of the beds and went down stairs to finally eat. At first she was going to eat the squirrel but figured it would be best to save for a rainy day. Once down stairs she saw a group of familiar white suits with a yellow and black smiley faces. Shachi and Penguin were in the center of the rowdy group, naturally. Catching sight of her, the duo got very excited. "Ari-chan! Come join us!"

Sighing with a smile, she walked over to the rowdy group thinking *_Why not?*_

()

After leaving the girl in the tavern Law and Bepo headed out to look around the happy town of Breezy Cove. It still looked just as it did at Law's first impression of it: boring and cheerful. Only now the people weren't as overly cheerful as before. As he walked down the streets Law could hear some of the people discussing the impending Marines on their way, as they would be at the sight of any ship.

"Captain." Bepo started as if uncertain he should ask. "How can you be sure that there is something special on the island? Marines are supposed to protect people from pirates, so wouldn't it make sense that they be called when a pirate ship docks?"

"Yeah. When a pirate ship docks you would expect Marines to be called. But they aren't called for sightings of pirate ships, they are called for any ship sighting here. That's what makes it unusual. Why would the people here be suspicious of everyone who comes to the island if they did not have something valuable to hide?"

"Ah. I hadn't thought of it that way. I was thinking that the people here are just overly cautious. Especially with the increase in pirate crews running around."

Bepo made a thoughtful point, so Law gave it some merit. "Always a possibility, but it happened so recently and this island clearly hasn't suffered from it, so it's less likely. For now we're going to walk every street here, so keep all your senses open to anything abnormal."

Bepo, the ever faithful first mate and navigator, gave his usual happy "Yes Captain!" and started letting his eyes wander over every detail in view. While doing so he couldn't help but feel he was forgetting about something else he was supposed to do. Now he wasn't sure if he should continue to inspect everything he could, so stop walking and try to remember. The mental debate was clear on his face earning Law's attention. "What's wrong?"

Surprised at the question, Bepo quickly became depressed for distracting his captain, "I think there was something I was supposed to do but can't remember. I'm sorry."

Entirely used to the bear's whiplash level mood swings Law simply continued talking as if it wasn't happening, "If there was something you were supposed to do then it was for another crewmember because I didn't ask you for anything. Who have you talked to today?"

Thinking for a second Bepo quickly made a list, "Shachi, Penguin, Bart, Thomas, Clyde, Austin, and Ari-can. Ah right! I wanted to talk to you about Ari-chan." Becoming incredibly happy at remember.

The newest member of the Heart Pirates was starting to feel like all he got to talk about now. "What about her?"

"She's really unhappy at not being allowed any freedom. I don't think she'll turn on us either. Are you sure it's necessary to constantly have her being watched?"

Law couldn't help but sigh at the question. "If she were calm and had clear intentions then no it wouldn't be. But she seems quick to change her mind, and can't I trust someone so indecisive."

"I asked her about that. When she quickly changed her mind about joining the crew, I mean. She said that it was because she didn't think about it before the first time she answered, but after she did she realized it would be too beneficial for her to not join. She said she needs to get stronger before going after the people she's after."

"People? I thought it was just one."

"No, she definitely said that she's 'not strong enough to even be an annoyance to them' so it's definitely multiple people."

Giving the words a quick thought, Law concluded something. "I was wrong. Her intentions are perfectly clear. She's going to do anything she has to for the sake of killing her prey."

"So? What do you say about giving her some breathing room?" Bepo asked.

"Let's see how she does for the remainder of our time on this island first. Now let's get back to our current goal." And with that Law resumed walking.

Just as always Bepo gave a "Yes Captain!" and continued walking with him.

* * *

**And done! I really wanted to have the Hearts fighting the Marines in this chapter, but I decided to cut it off here so that it doesn't go too long. :/ Oh well, something to look forward to next time. Farewell for now Lovelies!**

**L. t. tiger: Let me just start with saying I understand your disappointment with how I had Law and his group handle the jaguar a few chapters back. I never even thought about one of the pirates having a lighter, the whole idea was that they were not equipped to handle a logia in a head-on battle. I'm not really a good writer so that was honestly the best idea I could come up with to show that (at least in my story) Law and his crew are not prepared for the New World. But he knows it, that's why when the opportunity to bring in someone who can clearly fight enemies that they would need Haki for came he took it. But like I said, I'm not a good writer. I'm still totally new at it and I can promise that at each chapter there is someone who could handle it better. But the more I write the better quality of a story I will put out, hopefully anyways. Knowing that you're starting to like my Heart Pirates really makes me smile. I want them to all seem unique and as they are further developed I hope I succeed :)**

**I read through the paragraph that you said I had used the wrong word but I still can't find it, sorry. I plan on giving each chapter a few proof reads each after my complete failure with the capitan mix-up, but since no one else is going over the chapters too, a few mistake might slip through. **

**Okami1001: I'm happy you think she's cute. That's more towards where I wanted her personality to go. But I never even realized that I made her sassy too, it's kind of funny how characters tend to develop traits unintentionally like that XD**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the wait! My school semester is almost over and my teachers are all trying to squeeze in some last minute tests before finals. I probably won't be able to put out another chapter for a couple of weeks again because I'll be going into finals week next, but after that I'll be free from school for a little while. :D Anyways, as always I welcome any comments, criticisms, and corrections :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

It was getting very late and Law had walked a majority of the town of Breezy Cove with Bepo. As far as either of the two pirates could tell, there was nothing worth protecting, or a sign of something being hidden. Looking up at the dark sky, Law decided to return to the tavern and ensure that his whole crew was at least there, he didn't care whether or not they were in their rooms, he's not their babysitter and the crew is made of full grown men and one girl who was not allowed to leave the building anyways. "Let's go back for the night." Law told Bepo, who hummed in response.

Walking back in the tavern's direction the pirate captain decided to take a series of streets that they had not walked yet, he was returning for the night not giving up. Walking down one of the streets though, he noticed something along the lines that he had been looking for the whole afternoon. In front of an old looking building were two local police officers, and scattered around the area were men dressed in civilian clothes who were maintaining too vigilant a look out towards everyone who passed by the building. Taking in a quick assessment of the building Law could see that while it was old it was also maintained and structurally solid, it appeared to be some kind place of worship though he wouldn't go so far as to call it a church or shrine, and there was more space between the two adjacent buildings to this one than the rest of the town. Not wanting to alert the two guards in front of the building that he was able to pick out the casually dressed guards trying and failing to blend in to the surrounding area, Law simply continued his calm pace down the street with Bepo doing the same. Once they were over a street away from the building Law turned to his companion and smirked, Bepo smiled in return. With their goal for the night accomplished the two resumed their walk back to the tavern smiling, one happily and the other confidently.

Once back the tavern Bepo stopped abruptly and looked up. "Um, Captain…" Stopping and following the bear's line of sight, Law was somewhat irked at what he saw. On the roof of the building was Arianna. "Go ahead inside." Law told Bepo, handing his first mate his sword and their only room key. From where Law was standing there was no direct way up to the roof so he instead looked at the two buildings on its sides. One had a balcony at the second floor, so he instead jumped up to that, then from there to the roof of the tavern. Walking up to the girl he could see that she was sleeping, using her bag as a pillow. Or at least she was asleep, because once he was a few steps away from her, she opened one bright green eye to look at him before turning to her other side with a groan as if it would stop him from bothering her. Kicking her lightly, causing her to flip to her face, Law called at her, increasingly irritated by her behavior, "Get up."

She did, with an unhappy expression. "Am I not allowed to sleep now?"

"I told you to stay in the tavern." The stern tone of Law's voice perfectly showed his annoyance.

"You said not to leave the tavern. I never left. All I did was climb up from the window." In her mind, her reasoning was flawless.

In his mind her reasoning was irritating. She was relying on a technicality. "The intention is the same. You left the building by going outside, even if you just went up here."

She simply pouted unhappily at his reprimanding words, saying nothing.

"Why would you disobey me just to come to the roof?"

Sighing, she leaned back on her hand, looking utterly relaxed "My first night on the ship was the first night I ever spent without seeing the sky. Back with my Family, we'd build small shelters wherever we set up camp, but most of us would only sleep in them on rainy nights, and even then we'd still see the sky first. This was my first chance to see the stars since I joined the crew, I wasn't going to pass it up."

Her explanation was surprisingly innocent and simple, so much so the Law was at a loss as to how to respond.

Seeing his silence as an opening Arianna quickly tried to end the conversation. Putting on her best smile she announced, "Alright then. Goodnight Captain!" Laying back down as she said this.

The words helped Law's irritation towards her actions override his surprise at her innocence. He almost growled out "Get back in your room now. And don't leave it until tomorrow!"

Shooting straight upright, the girl gave him a sound somewhere between a whine and a groan and an angry look, but no words. Instead she stood up and walked to the edge of the roof, above her open window.

Before she climbed down Law made sure to tell her clearly. "Do not leave the inside of this building without one of my men watching you again."

All he got for a reply was a click from her tongue then she climbed down out of sight, and within a few seconds Law heard the sound of a window slammed shut. Now alone, the man sighed to himself in thought. *_At least she does as she's told, even if she clearly doesn't want to. But if she's going to just barely follow orders I'm going to have to make sure that nothing I say to her has room for debate.* _Walking back to the edge of the roof to jump down the way he came up, the pirate captain couldn't stop himself from pausing and looking up at the sky. While it wasn't perfectly clear, the clouds were sparse giving a good view of the stars and moon, which was only a sliver. It had been so long since he had last looked at the night sky though that Law couldn't tell if the moon was getting close to disappearing for a night, or if it was moving towards being full. Looking up at the countless lights could be calming or maddening to the man, depending on his mood. Tonight it was calming. The irritation that had accumulated from the girl was gone from him, leaving him to feel the tiredness that his long day had brought on. After going down to the ground, Law entered the tavern through the front door and into the bar, where about half of the crew were having fun. That they greeted him when one noticed that he entered the room probably meant that they had restrained themselves to the "don't drink too much" order he gave before letting them loose. Locating Shachi and Penguin in the group the captain asked, "Is everyone accounted for?"

Not even needing a second to think they both answered "Yep!"

"Okay then. Don't forget about tomorrow's plans." Law was being purposely vague since the bartender or other patrons could easily warn the Marines that their arrival was no secret to the pirates. After a couple of nods of understanding, Law walked on up the stairs and to the room he shared with Bepo. The door was opened before he made it there as Bepo was waiting for him. Once both of them were inside the quite sound of running water in the room next to them registered in the back of Law's mind but he didn't really give it any thought. Instead he removed his shoes, hat, hoodie, and short-sleeved shirt underneath. Bepo had immediately fallen asleep on his bed, and Law followed suit.

()

After her conversation with Law on the roof, Arianna returned to her room and made sure to slam the window shut in displeasure. The thought of waiting a little and then leaving the building entirely out of spite crossed her mind, but she decided against it. The Heart Pirates were, at the moment anyways, her best chance at growing strong and sailing back into the New World, back to the ocean that those people are sailing. _*I can't screw this up.* _The thought ran through her mind leaving a bad taste in her mouth, feigning loyalty to these kind men was not sitting well with her. _*Well, kind men plus their captain.* _Between talking to Law and having to climb back down into the room left Arianna pretty awake. Looking at herself she realized that she hadn't brought her other set of clothes for tomorrow. Closing the curtains at the window, she went into the bathroom. This shower confused her so it took a few minutes of fiddling with the knobs before she got hot water running. Once she did she stripped off everything she was wearing leaving herself naked and started washing her clothes. Once she was finished she threw them over a rod in the wall and then curled up in the bed. It was rather disappointing when sleep didn't come as easily to her as she would have liked.

When she woke up the next morning Arianna peeked out the window, behind the still closed curtain. It was incredibly early, the sky still grey. _*I guess I'm still in my normal rhythm.* _The thought was a relief, she had been worried that being inside the sub and having such little exposure to natural light had altered her habit of waking up at the start of dawn. That said it was highly unlikely that anyone else was awake now, so she would have to wait to so much as have someone to talk to. Walking into the bathroom, she was pleased that her clothes were dry and decided to start her morning with a shower. After getting dressed she checked the pelts that were drying against the wall. They were dried enough already but she decided it would be best to leave them for a little longer.

Taking her room key, Arianna went down stairs and was slightly displeased that there was no one from the crew out yet, just an employee of the tavern. Getting a glass of water from him, she sat at one of the tables and drank it slowly, doing her best to patiently kill time. Thankfully she didn't have to wait too long, about ten minutes after sitting down Oliver and Connor came downstairs into the room, surprisingly both were dressed in jeans and plain t-shirts, and their hair damp from morning showers. The two boys smiled at her, Oliver wider than Connor, and came up to her. "Good morning Ari-chan." Oliver happily greeted, while Connor gave a simple "Morning."

The girl practically vibrated in happiness at finally having someone to talk to. "Good morning! Why are you guys dressed like that?"

"We are going to eat at a small café down the street. If we walk up dressed in an infamous jolly roger, people tend to be panicked." Connor answered.

_*Leave the tavern?* _That thought was all that she needed to decide what she was going to say next, "Can I come with you?"

The boys looked at each other uncertainly, prompting a begging "Please, I'm not allowed to leave without someone from the crew."

While Connor was about to tell her no, the begging desperation in her voice had won Oliver over, so he answered "Sure." first. While Arianna jumped out of her seat with a cheer, Connor turned to Oliver with annoyance, "Hey! I don't want a tag-along!"

Oliver just put his hands together and gave an apologetic smile, "I couldn't help it. She would've been so sad if we left her here to wait for someone else to wake up."

Connor looked down at the girl smiling cheerfully at the two men and sighed in defeat. "Hey Bartender!" Connor called out, getting the man's attention. "When you see our captain can you tell him that Connor and Oliver took the girl out?"

The man looked at the three people before answering. "Of course."

Arianna was jumping from foot to foot. "Lead the way!"

While walking through the town Arianna was continuously moving her gaze from one sight to the next, trying to take everything in. While she looked around, Connor and Oliver chatted with one another, only occasionally glancing back to check that she was still there. Since it was still early morning the streets were mostly empty, only morning people like them and people making their way to work were walking around. After moving through a few streets down the three pirates stopped at a small restaurant with little tables set up both inside and out. Settling in at a table outside, it wasn't long before a waitress came up to greet them, took an order for two coffee's from the boys and an order of milk from the girl, before leaving them with food menus.

Looking it over Arianna had no idea what almost any of these foods are. The pair of boys only needed a minute to choose what to eat before resuming their conversation. After a few minutes Connor glanced over to Arianna and saw a look of utter confusion and concentration on her face. Chuckling a little he asked, "Having trouble Half-Pint?"

The odd nickname caught her attention more so than the question, "Half-Pint?"

"Well yeah. It's boring if everyone calls you the same thing. And you're so_fun sized_." The last part of Connor's explanation couldn't have come out more mockingly if he tried. Nonetheless it earned a chuckle from Oliver and a pout from Arianna.

_*I'm not THAT small!* _Though she thought that she sighed and moved on to answer the original question. They were doing her a favor bringing her along after all. "I have no idea what almost any of these are."

Still smiling in amusement, Oliver moved close to her and looked over the menu to explain what each food item was. After hearing him talk briefly about each item, Arianna decided that strawberry crepes seemed the most appealing. Oliver gave her a big smile and unconsciously leaned in closer "Good choice. They're really sweet, I'm sure you'll love them." With him so close Arianna could easily smell the many little details that covered him, including something that caught her off guard. Taking a quick glance at the other man at the table she saw that he had a small, quiet smile on his face. Refocusing her attention to the one next to her and taking another deep and obvious sniff of him, earning uncomfortable looks from the two. The pieces immediately came together in her mind, leaving her feeling guilty. Looking at Oliver with a guilty frown she had to ask. "Why would you agree to let me tag along on your date?"

The two immediately reacted in a big way. Red faced and stuttering, both of them tried to come up with some answer, any answer. Connor came up with a coherent sentence first. "Wh- What would make you think that this was meant to be a date?"

Utterly calm, she answered. "Well for starters you were obviously against me coming. Oliver is actually carrying your scent on him even though you both bathed so it really had to be soaked in, probably from sharing a bed overnight. And honestly just the way you two smile and look at each other is much more affectionate than friends would."

Once again the two stared at her blankly. Just then the waitress appeared, "Are we all ready to order?"

Her question was enough to lighten the tension of the table, and it helped that Arianna was the first to answer. "Yes! May I have strawberry crepes?"

"Pancakes with sausage?" Oliver requested.

"Fried eggs with beacon." Connor finished them up.

Nodding at each order with a smile, the woman retreated to the inside of the café. With her gone Arianna returned her attention to the boys with her. Connor still blushing slightly at her gaze, then suddenly Oliver started laughing. Slightly uncertain, Connor asked him, "Why are you laughing?"

Still chuckling slightly Oliver answered as best he could. "It's just. It's kind of nice, isn't it? Having someone who knows. Actually Captain might suspect something, now that I think about it."

The sudden news shocked Connor, "What?! Seriously?!"

The girl turned to look at Oliver, completely skipping over the subject of the one Heart Pirate that she isn't really happy about. "No one knows? How come?"

"Well…" Connor started, "There's no telling how the guys will react. They could be okay with it and tease us endlessly, hate us for it, or anywhere in between."

She was confused by the explanation, "Why would they hate you? Shouldn't they just be happy that you two are happy, or at least give you two your privacy?"

"Thank you." Oliver said, smiling slightly. Connor was smiling too, so she smiled back to them.

"Do us a favor though. Keep this to yourself, okay?" Connor told her.

The girl smiled to them and gave him a nod of agreement. With everything settled, Oliver retook his place next to Connor, and a new and happy conversation started, this time it included Arianna.

()

Law woke up somewhat early in the morning, around 6:40. Bepo was still asleep, snoring loudly. Walking over to the bathroom Law took a shower and changed into fresh clothes, pants similar to the ones he wore the day before, and a black sleeveless shirt before pulling his hoodie over it and pushing the sleeves up. He knew it looked like he wore the same clothes every day, he just didn't care since he knew that he wasn't. His activities had woken Bepo, who was now sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "I'm going to get breakfast downstairs. Do you want to come?" He asked his friend.

Bepo yawned out "Yeah, just let me wake up." He then walked to the bathroom, filled the bathtub with freezing cold water and dunked his head in it. Holding it under for a minute, then he lifted it out and shook off the water with a bright smile. Law watched the process, it always made him smile the way cold water could make the bear so happy.

With both of their morning routines finished, the duo left for breakfast. Once downstairs he saw that no one else from the crew had made their way down. Walking up to the employee who was standing behind the bar, a different man from last night, and asked him for eggs and toast for breakfast for both of them, Bepo likes to eat his share of the bread. He also got coffee for himself and a pitcher of water for his companion. When he came back with the coffee and water, and before going to rely the food order to a cook in the back the bartender remembered something. "You are the captain correct?"

A nod of confirmation from Law.

"A Connor and Oliver said that they were taking 'the girl' with them, and left earlier this morning."

The news was unexpected. _*Connor and Oliver actually allowed someone to intrude on their time together? That's surprising.* _While Law wasn't entirely certain of the nature of their relationship he had a good guess, and either way it wasn't any of his business so he didn't ask. "Thanks for letting me know." He told the man.

As Bepo and Law waited for their food they watched as the various members of the crew made their way down, each putting in orders for food and drinks. It didn't seem like anyone was nursing hangovers. _*Good.* _

Retrieving a newspaper from a stack that had been delivered and placed near the door, Law began reading while he drank his coffee, looking for any news that could affect him and his crew. However there was nothing new, mostly reports of more pirate crews popping up and causing trouble. The only thing surprising was that Jewelry Bonney escaped custody, but it didn't go into detail on how, trying to keep faith in the world government from weakening probably. By the time Law and Bepo got their food Marcus made his way downstairs he glanced around and then took a seat with his captain and first mate. "Good morning." After getting a response from the two he continued, "Where's the girl?"

"She left with Oliver and Connor this morning." Law answered. The only ones missing now were those three, and the infamous duo: Shachi and Penguin. After another twenty minutes everyone in the room had received food and were eating and the head medic and mechanic finally made their way down, still rubbing their eyes as if they simply rolled out of bed and walked downstairs. Actually, looking at them, they just might of. Getting coffee from the bartender and asking for any kind of food they made their way to a table next to their captain. Both drinking their coffee and trying to wake up. Marcus stared at them before asking the obvious. "Why wouldn't you go to sleep earlier when you know you're going to have to wake up in the morning?"

Shachi shot him a glare, not that anyone could see it with his sunglasses on, "Mind your own business, Marcus."

Penguin, on the other hand looked at Law and asked "Any idea when the Marines are expected to be here?"

"From what I've heard last night, it seems they are expected to arrive later this morning. So wake up quickly." Law told him.

As the two continued to sip their drinks and start to nibble on their food when it came out, they did slowly wake up. Though what really did the trick was the excitement that came when Oliver, Connor and Arianna returned. The little huntress practically darted into the room, bounced around greeting all of the men individually. When the boys walked up to the table that Law was at they were greeted with a question that they seemed to be expecting. "What happened to her?"

Sitting down next to Shachi, Oliver answered "I think it's a sugar high. Apparently she's never had anything sweeter than honey before."

Sighing, Connor sat down next to Penguin and added on, "Believe it or not this is after we took her to the park and let her run loose for a little while."

Just as he said it the girl ran up behind him, glomping herself on Connor with a big smile and announced to the table, "They did! It was a lot of fun! Can we go again before we leave the island?"

Looking at the girl, all the pirates in the conversation could've sworn that a pair of puppy ears and a wagging tail sprouted from her body. The whole situation was highly amusing to Law, who spoke with a smirk. "You should take it easy. All that energy you got from your food is going to go away at once and you'll crash."

"No fun, no matter what time of the day I see." Despite her unhappy words she couldn't take the smile off of her face.

_*Don't say I didn't warn you.* _With all of his crew present now, Law stood up getting the whole room's attention. "When everyone is done eating get all of your things and come back down here. We need to assume that we won't be staying here tonight." As he said this Law glanced at the lone tavern employee in the room, who was watching him closely, then smirked dangerously.

With everyone finished eating and retreating upstairs, Law approached the man behind the bar, who was rolling utensils in napkins, probably preparing for other customers. "Not planning on staying another night?" He asked carefully.

Law simply smirked at him. Then calmer than anyone the man had ever seen, he picked up a knife from the stack and quickly sliced the man's artery along the left side of his neck taking blood to his brain, his carotid artery. The slice killed the man instantly. While Law normally liked to play with his victims, he didn't want to waste time on this one man when he had a whole ship of Marines coming. While cleaning his hand of the blood that had splattered Bepo returned with his captain's nodachi and a bag that he had carried his change of clothes in, along with the rest of the crew. No one said anything about the blood that now covered part of the bar, except for Arianna who was flailing her arms in anger as she was still on her sugar high. "Why did you kill him? He hadn't done anything wrong!"

"He might've warned the Marines that we are expecting them. I'm not taking any chances for reinforcements to be called." He explained easily.

She wanted to protest further but suddenly felt a huge drain in energy and the sudden need to sleep, then started getting a dizzy look on her face. Law could guess what happened and couldn't help getting a new smirk on his face. "I see your sugar high is over. Drink some juice, it'll help." He instructed before leading the rest of the crew, who watched the little exchange with amusement, out of the building, turning the sign on the door to indicate that it's closed as he left.

()

After leaving the tavern Law had the crew return to the ship to leave their belongings, then split up into two groups, a smaller group of five lead by Connor to stay and submerge the ship, while he took the other ten Heart Pirates into town to take over that odd building that he and Bepo had picked out the night before. Arianna followed the pirate captain, gingerly sipping from a glass of apple juice that she poured herself before leaving. Traveling into town she couldn't help but marvel at the man's ability to lead them directly back to a building that he had passed late at night. _*I will never understand how Worlders don't lose track of where they are walking in towns.*_

When they reached what must have been their destination, two men in what were likely uniforms, went ridged and pointed guns at Law as he was the captain. One shouted out "Come no closer pirates!" At the shout random men who were sitting at benches and talking in groups all pointed guns at the crew as well.

Law frowned and murmured "Don't give me orders." Before turning to the pirates behind him, "Take care of them."

At the order Bepo and two other Hearts swiftly struck and knocked out the eight guards, while Law calmly proceeded into the building with the others. On the inside the stone floor was completely exposed with the symbol for the World Government painted in the center while the walls were actually book shelves, all of which were full. The whole thing was incredibly underwhelming to Arianna. "All this protection for a book collection? That's a letdown."

There were some noises of agreement from some of the men but Law didn't seem to be listening. Instead he was walking the length of the room, inspecting the books. After walking one wall he announced, "These are a distraction. The subjects range far too much and there's no organization. Whoever planned this out simply tried to fill the shelves without any specific type of subject."

Standing in front of the group again, Law raised his tattooed hand "Room."

At his command a large blue dome enveloped the room. Moving his hand towards the left wall, with his index finger extended, he moved it to be pointing to the other wall with the command "Tact." At the command all of the books and the shelves shot out towards to other wall.

Arianna stood in awe, she had not been expecting him to have a special power like this. _*This must be one of those Devil Fruit powers.* _She thought as she watched him. Apparently the desired affect didn't happen though, as Law turned his attention to the wall in front of them and repeated the process, this time bringing the books and shelves forward. Then again at the last wall. This time however something odd happened. Instead of all of the books flying away one appeared to get caught on something, and simply tilted. "There it is." She heard Law say.

Just as he said it, there was a low rumble and vibration from the floor. The brick flooring in between the emblem and the far wall slowly descended into a cavern in the ground. The girl stared in shock. "How did you know that was there?"

"It's a pretty basic type of 'secret' passage that the government uses." The pirate captain almost seemed bored in his explanation.

The girl heard a chuckle of amusement from Shachi, so she turned to him with her arms crossed and an unhappy look "What's so funny?"

He at least tried to contain himself when he answered. "Nothing. Just like Captain said, it's really basic. Almost every Marine base has this type of mechanism. We've seen them plenty of times."

"Aw come on. It's not like she's been raiding bases like us. She had no reason to know." Though Penguin tried to stand up for the girl, she didn't miss the fact that he was chuckling too. She wanted to make some type of comeback at them but something outside caught her attention, and she turned her head back towards the door. Bepo informed the crew "There's a large group gathering outside, probably the Marines."

Turning back to the room, Arianna saw Law walking towards the door, saying with a smiling "Well in that case let's go and greet them." All of the pirates smiled at their captain's words, and followed behind him out the building. Outside there was a large group of Marines, too many for Arianna to bother trying to count, all pointing their long guns with blades at Law and the ten pirates standing behind him. One Marine stepped forward and announced, "Surrender peacefully, or we will open fire!"

Arianna watched Law closely to see how he will react to being ordered again since he obviously didn't like it. At first he was simply frowning, but then a dangerous looking smirk spread across his face as he lifted his hand and once again gave the command "Room."

As the blue field surrounded Law and a fairly good sized portion of the Marines they started to panic. Faster than they could compose themselves, Law drew his sword and started slicing the air multiple time in front of him, and with each cut the men in the blue field were split apart and screaming. The sight of the pirate captain's offensive power was astonishing. She couldn't believe the way his slashes traveled across the air, it was unlike anything she had ever seen.

Sheathing his sword and leaning it against his body, Law turned to his crew "Go ahead and cut loose, I'll have my fun with these fools." Returning his attention to the men he sliced up and raising both of his hand and then moving them in circles, he gave a new command, "Shambles." Upon his command the body pieces that he had cut up, yet oddly enough were still moving and heads still screaming, began floating and all started moving at once, twisting all together.

Though the Heart Pirates were more than used to the captain's powers, Arianna was not and she stayed in her place watching for an extra few second. _*How do you defend against a cut that you can't see?* _She wondered to herself. The sound of a loud battle cry snapped her out of her focus and she redirected her attention to the other men. Bepo and what seemed to be a majority of the pirates all fought close ranged, including Shachi, Penguin, and Tom-san; she also saw Marcus in the fray throwing and swinging his rope dart with a great deal of skill, not one Marine was able to get close to him.

A big smile came to her face. _*I guess it's okay for me to cut a little loose too, huh?* _Drawing her tomahawk, Arianna leaped into the chaos. Perhaps it's because this was her first run-in with the Marines so she was an unknown factor or maybe it was her harmless appearance at first glance but at her first few steps in the battle ground none of the Marines seemed to pay her any regard. That quickly changed though when she skillfully swung he uncommon weapon into the base of a man's skull causing it to dangle at the mercy of gravity, killing him.

It seemed to be enough to convince other Marines who saw it that she should be treated just like any of the other pirates. Two charged her, probably hoping to stab her with the blades on their guns, so she caught one the blades in nook at the bottom of the rounded hatchet blade and guiding it to intercept the other one. When the two weapons collided she jumped and flipped over them, then midair and upside down she swung her weapon into the skull of one man, before landing and cutting through the ankle of the other in one fluid motion. When that man fell to the ground she slammed the blade through his neck, decapitating him. Still on the ground, she sensed something small about to come at her, but gave it no thought. Because of that mistake she felt a tearing and burning sensation on her right arm. Looking at it, she saw a gash running straight across her upper arm, then looked at where her Sense had previously warned of the projectile's origin. A Marine was pointing one of their weapons at her. _*So that's what they do. Great…*_

Sensing another small projectile about to come at her she made sure to get out of the way and started charging at the man who had hit her previously. Twisting her tomahawk so the spiked end was facing the outside, getting up too close to the man for him to defend himself, she thrusted the spike up through his chin. Sensing rather than seeing a group of three Marines with their weapons aimed at her, she twisted herself around the Marine she just hit to use him as a shield. But it was unnecessary as a now familiar blue film surrounded them and they were swiftly cut in half. Looking at the pirate captain she could see that he was smirking like a devil to her. She couldn't help but sweat with a thought. _*Aren't you having a little too much fun?*_

Turning her back to him and looking at the now almost empty battle ground, she saw something that unexpectedly sent a sharp panic through her body. A Marine that was a few feet from her was pointing his gun at Marcus, who was facing the other way. Glancing around and realizing that she was the closest to the man, she instantly kicked her tomahawk out of the dead man's chin and into her hand then threw it at the man pointing his gun at the Heart Pirate. It landed with the bladed side embedded deep in his skull, the sound of his body hitting the ground seemed to be enough to grab Marcus' attention because he then turned to see the Marine on the ground with Arianna's weapon in his head. He must have been the last Marine standing because the Heart Pirates were no longer fighting, instead they were watching as the girl walked over to pry her weapon out of the dead man making her feel a little self-conscious, especially since she knew there was more than her fair share of blood splatter on her.

"What?" she asked, trying her best to not let them know their looks were making her uncomfortable.

Marcus looked at her with an odd and somehow negative expression, but said nothing. Instead he walked past her and on to Law. "Are we clear to find out what's under the building?"

Readjusting his nodachi to a more comfortable position Law began walking back to the building. "Yeah, looks like it."

Arianna put her weapon in its place then slammed her hands on her hips with a sour expression. "What's his problem?"

Penguin who had walked up to her, answered. "Marcus is a nice guy, but he's a bit on the proud side in a fight. He doesn't like other's making it look like he needs help."

Groaning a little at the answer, Arianna followed Law and the rest of the pirates that were returning to the building, though not before voicing her opinion. "Pride's no excuse for rudeness when someone saves your life."

Back inside the building the group continued down passage that they had uncovered previously. Law turned on switch at the bottom, lighting up the short hallway. At the end was a tall, square stone pillar.

With everyone up close and inspecting the pillar Shachi asked loudly. "What is this?"

"Hm… Not sure." Law answered thoughtfully.

Thankfully Jean Bart stepped forward with an answer, "It's called a Poneglyph."

Everyone turned to him, hoping he would explain further, so he did. "They're stones from the Void Period. That's why they're written in a dead language. For whatever reason though some people go to great lengths to find them, even though being able to read the language it's written in is illegal. That's a law that the World Government enforced with great prejudice too if the rumors I've heard to too be believed."

Law frowned deeply. "Useless to us, huh? Room." With a blue dome filling the room, the pirate captain began cutting the stone into many pieces.

"What are you doing?" Shachi shouted in surprise.

Apparently satisfied with his work, Law closed his room and sheathed his sword. "We obviously can't use it, but I'm not leaving it for the World Government to go back to researching, or whatever they were doing here. Let's go."

With that Law and the crew left, all in obvious disappointment.

* * *

**A/N: I almost broke this into two chapters, but thought "I'm not waiting another chapter for the fight!" So now you have a long chapter to read. Sorry, it felt like the lesser evil in the decision. And sorry if a little bit of BL makes anyone uncomfortable, I don't plan on going into deep detail on their relationship, I just couldn't pass up having a gay couple in my story. Hehe (´****｡****• ****ω •****｡****`)**

**Just one more reminder. I don't expect to be able to put out another chapter for a couple of weeks, so please bear with me.**

**0030Savage Kill: I hope you enjoyed the fight, it's my first :) **

**sarge1130:** **Another mistake! (°Д °;) **

**Thanks for the "secrete" heads up, I can always count on you to notice my fails lol :)**

**And I hate to say it but the respect is going to take some time, I want their relationship to develop over time. Stories where characters just wake up one day and decide to have a completely new opinion of another character kind of bug me.**

**Son of Whitebeard: Yeah, well I wouldn't expect any less from Law. Would you? ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

**So I know I said it would be a couple of weeks until the next chapter because of exams, but when I started thinking about what I might want to do with the chapter I couldn't focus on anything else, including studying. So I did this with my time instead (It's the longest chapter yet too by a lot). It's funny how I'll write 8 thousand words for fun, but treat a one thousand word essay like torture. Oh well, please enjoy the fruit of my academic sacrifice! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

After returning to the ship empty handed Law had the rest of his crew join him for a raid on the Marine ship to at least make the anticipation for the encounter worth something in the end. After killing off the last of the Marines they took anything that he found valuable or useful; once all of the weapons, ammo, money, as well as maps and ship schedules were removed the crew released the ship back out into open waters with a fire crawling across the deck. It was while the crew was moving the new supplies into various storage rooms of the sub that Law noticed a trail of blood on his newest subordinate's arm. "Come with me to the infirmary."

She followed him wordlessly into the ship and sat in the chair he pointed to, the same one she had her first time she came to the infirmary. Law gathered cleaning supplies and started his work. "What happened to you?"

The girl took a glance at her arm. "Oh. I learned something new."

The pirate held in his sigh as he remembered a similar answer the previous day when asked about collecting branches. "Your nondescriptive answers are getting increasingly annoying."

She just looked at him slightly confused, but answered again. "I was hit by one of those weapons the Marines use. 'Guns' I think they're called."

Law raised his eyebrow, "You didn't know what guns do?"

There was a slight pink to her cheeks as she answered. "I've never been in a fight where one was used."

This time Law let his sigh escape. "Actually avoid getting hit by them from now on."

The girl pouted slightly. "I figured that out already, thanks."

With the injury now completely cleaned he saw that it was actually shallow enough that he could leave it to heal on its own. "I'm just going to bandage it."

She simply nodded and said nothing while the pirate doctor started collecting what he needed. It was when he returned and started wrapping her arm that she moved the conversation rather awkwardly. "I'm sorry if my answers tend to annoy you. With somethings there is little or no difference between Worlders and Tribesman, then others it's like we're different species all together."

Law looked up from her injury and saw that her light blush was back. He had to smirk at her now "Is that an apology, Arianna-ya"

She seemed embarrassed. "You don't have to point it out you know. I just don't want you to start disliking me because of something like that."

Truth be told Law even though he was annoyed at her for her poor answers, and he already figured that there are plenty of cultural differences between her and everyone else so he's been trying to let some of her annoying behaviors go. Plus it's not like he's entirely fond of all the tendencies that the rest of his crew have.

Finishing up, Law began clearing away the material and made a decision. "It's fine as long as you're learning. Speaking of which, we're going to start our training."

Surprisingly, he was met with no resistance this time. "Okay. Those Marines didn't give me enough of a workout anyways."

Catching sight of Shachi, Penguin and Bepo on their way off the sub, Law told them to watch the crew, while Arianna went downstairs to take her bag. With the rest of the crew restricted to staying at the sub and dock, to their great displeasure, the two pirates made their way through town again. For the first time the people in town were utterly afraid of them. _*So they do know how to properly react to pirates. That's better.* _Law couldn't help but let a smirk slip onto his face. He did enjoy the fear that the general public showed, it's why he took great pride in being considered the cruelest pirate in the "Worst Generation."

Then again, even though he liked to play with his victims he was not a fan of senseless slaughter of everyone around him like Eustass Kidd. He was shown to be better than that. His smirk started to fall slightly as his thoughts started taking a depressing course but before he was had a chance to dwell in his past the pair reached their destination. The clearing was smallish and littered with various rocks and occasion small bush but Law figured it would serve its purpose for them well enough. He continued to the other side of the clearing but Arianna stopped them halfway in. The man looked at her expectantly, finally she sighed apparently not wanting to go through this but began speaking. "First things first. I'm going to get confused if I have to try and keep your Worlders' names straight so I'm going to tell you right now: Tribesmen know Kenbunshoku Haki as Hunter's Sense and Busoshoku Haki is Warrior's Cloak. I'm going to go ahead and use my old names since they are simpler, so sorry if it confuses you." He could see that she took great effort in remembering the words.

*_Aren't you just being lazy?* _Rather than commenting on it, Law thought further about what he knew of Haki and asked. "What about Haoshoku Haki?"

The girl's face went blank. "Never heard of it. What does it do?"

"It's incredibly rare, but it allows the user to render people with significantly weaker spirits unconscious." The captain explained, taking a moment to remember the events of the Auction House on Shabaody Achipelago.

Arianna seemed to recognized the effect he described so she answered. "Oh, that. We call that Alpha's Will. That's not something that can be taught and I don't have it, so if you want to use that then you're on your own, sorry."

Law filed away her words along with the growing list of tribal terms that he was trying to keep in mind to avoid any confusion because of her. "Shall we get started then?"

A small excited smile came to her face and her gleaming green eyes met his sharp yellow ones. "Sure. Best to start with a quick fight to give me a good sense of where you are. A rule first though. No weapons. Training's pointless if it kills you, right?"

At that the two walked over a little to the side to find a place for their weapons, Law securely placing his sword down while Arianna simply dropped her bag and removed her belt as it held her tomahawk and knife. "The one on your wrist too." Law reminded her.

She looked at him a little surprised but then a flash of realization came across her face, probably figuring out that Marcus had told him. She started to remove the band on her right forearm, revealing a metal contraption bound to the inside of her arm and hand with thick twine. "Before you accuse me of anything, I just didn't take it off because it's a bit more of a process than removing a belt."

Though Law always assumes the worst intentions he couldn't help but see and understand what she meant, as it took a series of untying and pulling at the different strings before it was loosened enough for her to slide the contraption off. When it was off and safely placed against her other belongings Law noticed lines and indents that the tightly secured piece left behind, and tan lines from the wrist band that clearly was rarely removed. She began rubbing her forearm uncomfortably. When she saw Law staring she started to explain, apparently thinking he was waiting for her to. "I'm not used to being without my Hunter's Blade. It's given to Tribesman when they complete their training."

Law simply walked back some to put space between them. "I didn't ask."

With sufficient space between the two, Law opened his Room. Taking this as a sign of him being ready, Arianna rushed at Law, fist pulled back, with a speed that left him little time to react, but even so he was able to give his command of "Shambles" to switch him with a rock a few feet away. The technique entirely shocked and confused his opponent and so Law took the opportunity to move in to punch her, but she didn't let her surprise distract her too long and guarded herself while lashing at him with her left foot. Law jumped back and used his Shambles again, this time sending her to behind him, as he turned to kick where she was now standing in utter confusion. But he missed in the most surprising way. She didn't so much as dodge his attack as she dropped to the ground with her legs and arms crossed and an angry pout on her face. The whole change in her actions stopped him from making any more strikes. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

She made an irritated growling sound before answering. "How am I supposed to understand how strong you are if your powers are moving us all around?"

Law's expression twitched into a frown. "I fight with my devil fruit power. If I had my sword too I'd have already cut you to pieces."

Getting back to her feet, Arianna boldly got close into his personal space. "The power you want me to teach you doesn't come from devil fruit. We're not going to get anywhere if you keep that up, so new rule: no devil fruit power. At least for the time being."

The ordering words coming from this girl greatly angered the pirate captain. "You're forgetting Arianna-ya. I'm your Captain. I don't take orders, from anyone. Especially not a member of my own crew."

Despite the cold and threatening tone to his words, Arianna did not back down. "How do you plan on learning new techniques when you're not doing anything new to train?"

Law harshened his glare at her words. _*This woman. Talking down to me like this.*_

As if hearing his thoughts, Arianna sighed and took a step back. "I'm not trying to order you. I'm just saying. I can't teach you with you using your power. If you want a training partner in general I won't be opposed, but you wanted to learn something new from me, right? I'm telling you the only method I know of."

As much as Law despised the thought of doing as she told him, he had no choice but to accept that it had to be as she said. If he was to continue relying on his devil fruit then how was he to learn Haki? Finally agreeing to her terms, Law closed his room and took some steps away without a word, once again putting space between them. "Let's get started again then." He finally said.

She started the fight in the same way surprisingly, charging him with a straight forward punch, though without his power to avoid it and not having been fast enough to dodge it entirely to begin with, his best option was to put up his arms to defend himself. When he did he was shocked at the power behind it, having to brace his whole body down to avoid being pushed back by the smaller girl. Pushing back at her fist, Law freed one hand to counter but the girl took a side step, effortlessly avoiding his attack despite the close proximity. Following her weight through the turn in her step, she spun and kicked his back, throwing him forward. Hitting the ground on his left side once before pushing himself back up and regaining his footing, Law immediately took the offensive and starting punching at his opponent who had followed him. Whether she chose not to avoid the strike, or couldn't he wasn't sure but Arianna guarded herself against his fist instead, causing her to get thrown back this time, further than he was.

While falling back she flipped her body over, digging her hands into the ground and pulled her feet down. Within the same instant her toes touched the dirt she propelled herself back at Law faster than before. Having gotten a better sense of her relentless fighting style Law was able to move his head just far enough to the side that he avoided her fist, but then alarms went off in his head to protect his chest, readying his guard in the same instant he felt the hand that went past him pull back and grip his shoulder, pulling their bodies closer together. Before he could completely process what she was doing he felt a powerful strike from her knee slamming against the back of his forearms that were up protecting his chest. This time when he went back the force flipped him over, landing him on his chest and knocking all the air out of his lungs. Pushing himself up as quickly as he could, Law couldn't help a cough as he tried to get the breathe back in his chest. Before he could look up to find where Arianna was coming from now the same alarms went off, telling him to rush forward. Following his instincts, Law leapt and looked back, seeing the girl kick down where he had been, slightly cracking the ground. Not willing to give her a second to recover, Law put all of his weight on his hands and swept a kick out towards her. While the hit landed, she seemed to have sensed it coming as she started a jump to get out of the way and curled her whole body to brace herself for the impact which successfully put some distance between them. Oddly enough, once the two of them were back on their feet Arianna decided to call the fight. "Alright! I got what I needed!" Relaxing her posture she began calmly walking over to the pirate captain.

Slowly taking in a deep breath after having the air knocked out of him Law asked, "What do you mean? Tired already?" They both knew the question was hollow, as she wasn't laboring in her breathing in the slightest.

She chuckled apologetically, "Sorry. That one hit knocked the wind out of you, huh? And the fight wasn't the training. It was to figure out your ability without any assistance from weapons or weird power, remember?"

Law stayed silent, waiting for her evaluation.

The two started retrieving their weapons and the girl gave the captain a bright smile. "You're good. Especially for someone who doesn't regularly fight bared-handed. Well, now that the easy part is done ready to begin the training?"

Law's expression narrowed slightly. _*Getting kicked around was the easy part?*_ "Alright. What next?"

Beginning the process of putting the bladed contraption back on her wrist, Arianna answered. "You definitely already have some Hunter's Sense, which will cut the painful process of awakening it out, so next we get to move on to the painful process of honing it." Though she talked about a painful process she was definitely smiling. Law smirked slightly recognizing that as an expression that he would make.

That said, he was curious "What would you have done if I didn't already have Kenbunshoku Haki?"

Once again wearing that expression that showed that in her mind the answer was obvious, "The fight would've continued until one of us was down, then we'd do it again and again, probably with other crewmembers attacking you too, until your body adjusted to the need to read and predict attacks first to avoid getting hurt. Be happy that we aren't starting from nothing. The process of forcing the Sense's awakening usually leaves the person collapsing and losing consciousness for about a day."

Law couldn't disguise his deadpanned expression.

"Hey, think what you want but that's how everyone in my Family is taught, myself included. And be honest, those little impulses warning you about how to best protect yourself, they didn't start going off until after you had already gotten hit, right? It was your body adjusting to what was needed."

While crude, Law couldn't deny the results to her method. Her first strike he saw coming and had to block it, her second he was entirely unprepared for. By her fourth, he's instincts had been his warning system, not his senses. Besides knowing that she had to go through what sounds like a dangerous training regimen to get to where she's at did give him some pleasure. "What's the actual training then?"

Law almost started to regret his question when she gave him a mischievous smile and chuckle. Then she pointed out to the forest. "That's a more appropriate environment for what I have planned."

Without waiting for the man to say anything, the girl start skipping over to the tree line giving him no choice but to follow. Once under the shade of the trees she started her instruction of what they were to do while continuing further. "What we're going to do for the early part of your training is actually about the same as how I would have trained you to awaken the Sense. I'm going to try my best to hurt you and you're going to use your Sense to protect yourself." Once again there was that smile that made her seem like what she was planning was a game.

Law was defiantly not happy. "Great. Why exactly did we have to come here then?"

She had slipped into her "isn't that obvious" expression but quickly shifted into a more neutral expression. "Using the trees gives me a wider range of mobility. The less obvious and more irregular the attacks the faster your instincts will take over."

The pirate captain was slightly pleased that she seems to becoming more aware of how to respond appropriately when asked about what she sees as obvious. "Anything else for me to keep in mind for this?"

Thinking for a second, she answered "Same rule as before, no devil power. Since this training isn't about improving your strength you shouldn't bother attacking, just focus on protecting yourself. For now I think it would be best if it's just the two of us until you get a better sense of what the training is. When you're a bit more comfortable with it some other members of the crew would be of great help."

Law gave it a thought and agreed to her plan. Once they were stopped Law placed his Nodachi against a tree as Arianna dropped her bag, and found a spot that created some space between the two and readied himself.

"Ready?" the girl called to him.

"Yeah." The moment Law answered back the girl seemed to vanish. The alarms in his head started going off again but he couldn't quite understand where her attack was coming from. By the time his Haki was able to give him a general direction, it was too late for him to do anything, and he felt a slamming force pushing against his right side as she kicked him in an upwards motion from a low stance. Once he was back on his feet he saw that she was gone from sight once again. Law couldn't help but remember his conversation with Marcus, and how he worried that Arianna could pose the possibility of causing harm to the crew and he started to think that she might just be able to kill most of them in the right environment. _*Like a forest, perhaps?* _With that the realization that she hadn't placed her weapons with his before suddenly dawned on him. Law immediately lifted his hand and gave the commands "Room. Shambles." With his nodachi securely in his hand he prepared to draw it and level all of the trees in his territory, but as he started to pull at the handle the girl reappeared before him. The outright furious expression on her face was perfect mirror to his. "What the heck?! I thought you agreed to not use your powers?"

Despite the fury in his expression, his words came out cold and measured. "Why are you doing this? You've been too willing to train today, while yesterday you wanted nothing to do with it."

Not as good at controlling her anger as the captain, Arianna was still yelling. "I want to get stronger too. And like I keep telling you the training is going to be very tiring on your body, so of course I wouldn't be willing to start yesterday, like I already explained to you!"

Law stared at her silently, still maintaining his Ope Ope Room, until she broke the stale mate with a cold smile and dangerous gleam in her eyes. "Do you want a real fight, perhaps?"

Having had enough of her, Law drew his sword and cut everything in front of him, which no longer included Arianna as she had flipped up to avoid the cut and pushed herself off a tree trunk now suspended in the air to avoid the next one he sent at her. He continued to make a variety of slashes at her, but the huntress' erratic movements sent her all over effectively dodging each attack. Dropping his sword sheath, the pirate captain used his now free hand to direct his next command. "Tact!"

Arianna stopped to look back wide eyed at the tree that was now hurtling towards her. Not sure where else to go she darted directly at it and dropped her body to the ground, sliding harmlessly under it, using one of her hands to swing herself back around to once again face the angry captain, before coating her fingers and toes in Busoshoku Haki and once again propelled herself at the man, faster than any movement she made in their short spar back in the clearing. Law's Haki screamed loudly in his head to guard his neck at the sight of her crouched position, the instant before her attack. Guarding with both his hands holding his sword, a loud metallic ringing echoed in his ears and his whole body bucked slightly from the force of the propelled enhanced strike. His blade was holding back the round tomahawk blade aimed at the base of his neck. Pulling her in for a moment before pushing her strike back, Arianna's Haki coated foot anchored her to the ground still within her striking distance, and her other hand lashed out at him with a backhanded grip on the hunting knife that he had never actually seen her use. Shifting his grip on the nodachi in his hands, Law pushed the knife away from him and then, throwing his whole body weight in a turn, he kicked her squarely in the abdomen, sending her back until her body slammed roughly against the stump of what was one of the trees that he had cut, earning a gasp of pain from the girl.

Realizing that the close proximity of the fight had made him lose focus on his Ope Ope powers he reopened a room, but the time he had to take to do so was enough for the girl to regain herself and avoid the slash that sent her way. Releasing one hand from his sword, the captain started directing his Tact command again, this time relentlessly sending debris from all of his previous strikes at the girl. While she did manage to avoid most of them the ones she couldn't didn't seem to slow her down as much as he would've liked thanks to her Busoshoku Haki coating whatever it was she used to block. When a piece of tree knocked her to the ground he sent five more directly at her, aiming to crush the girl, but she ran towards one and used her tomahawk to redirect it before it touched her. Despite that, the wood flying at her from the opposite direction struck her hard in the back of her left shoulder, earning a loud cry of pain. Apparently not giving up though, she stood quickly and charged directly at the man controlling everything.

Formulating a new plan, Law looked one of the many tree pieces as she ran at him. Commanding "Shambles" Law switched Arianna with a branch close to him, and before she could process what had happened to her, Law cut her diagonally with his power. Slashing her a few more times for good measure, he decidedly ended their little fight.

His room once again closing, Law sat down in front of the girl who was now in pieces. They were both panting heavily. The man had used a lot more power in that fight than he hoped he'd have to, and he was exhausted because of it. He did however hold his glare all the same.

()

Arianna wasn't sure what she felt most of, pain in her shoulder or shock at her current condition. She lay in six separate pieces, and yet no blood was seeping from the points of separation. When she looked up at Law she didn't bother trying to hide her bewilderment at what had happened to her. "How am I still alive?" She panted out.

Still catching his own breath, Law smirked slightly. "When I close my room I can decide whether or not the effects are permanent."

_*That's a serious power. But it looks like it's tiring to him, huh?* _Arianna considered what was revealed as she watched him. Looking at herself and seeing that her torso and right arm were cut diagonally from the first strike, her whole left arm was separated from her body, her left leg was separated at the knee, and her right foot was separated at the ankle. "Um… Now that the fight's over could you put me back together?"

The coldness came back to Law's features. "And I'm just supposed to trust that you aren't going to try to kill me again? If you want to be put back together do it yourself."

"Hey! You're the one that started the fight. And don't act like you'd have been all torn up about one of those trees you were throwing at me actually killed me." The girl started to raise her voice again. It probably was not the best reaction given her current situation but she couldn't help it. When she saw that he really wasn't going to move to help her she started doing her best to direct her body parts back together, partly in shock that she could still control them like they weren't separated at all.

"If you weren't intending to try something then why did you keep your weapons when we started the training?"

Her expression blanked out. "I hadn't thought about it."

Law looked like he was torn between trying to hold his cold expression and letting the shock slip through. "You can't be serious."

Arianna was trying to cover her brightly blushing face from the man with her reattached left hand, but she was having some trouble using it to reconnect her right arm. "I don't know what to tell you! I knew I wasn't going to use them so I didn't think about taking them off. I only did last time because I figured you wouldn't have been willing to go along with the fight if it seemed like I might try to kill you. I explained what the training is so I thought you wouldn't care."

Law sighed now. "So basically, you were just being a thoughtless idiot."

"More like you're just being overly suspicious! I haven't given you any reason to think I'd turn against you, but you continuously expect me to. I thought Bepo was going to talk to you, too." Once again, yelling was probably not the best way to react but she couldn't help it.

"I can't trust someone who is so secretive. You've told me some generals about your past which is fine but you haven't actually said anything about your intentions for the future except that you want to kill some people. Even if you aren't going to turn on the crew, your action could bring us trouble. I don't trust someone whose plans can bring trouble to me." Law's tone was still cold but not as much as before.

Arianna wasn't sure how to respond to that. Of course she can't tell him that her goal won't interfere with his crew, lying would only worsen the situation and she was an obvious liar. Tentatively, she tried to find a way to reassure him that of her intentions towards him and the crew's safety. "I can't promise that the ones I'm after won't pose a threat to you and the crew, which is why I won't ask you to fight for me. If you feel like my goal has become too much of a threat to your crew than leave be behind and continue your journey. If sailing as a Heart Pirate starts costing me in terms of my hunt then I will leave you, I won't pretend otherwise. That is the closest to a solution that I can give you. Sorry if it's not enough."

Law took a deep breath and looked like he was thinking over her words. "Who are you after?"

It was a simple enough question, really it was. But there was no way Arianna would tell him. As she finally had her body put back together entirely she told him "That's personal. Really personal. Just because you're the captain doesn't mean you get to know everything about the people in the crew. I mean Connor and Oliver keep a private life from you."

A smirk spread across Law's face for the first time since the fight. "Oh. And what are Connor-ya and Oliver-ya hiding from me?"

Panic shot to her face in a big way, her face immediately paled three shades whiter than normal while her eyes went wide. _*Crap! That was supposed to be a secret! Connor's going to kill me!* _Arianna did the only thing she could think of. Deny. Deny everything. "What are you talking about? Oliver and Connor aren't hiding anything." As she started talking she also began sweating. Arianna was a perfect example of a horrible liar. "Why would you even bring Connor and Oliver up?"

His smirk was becoming more amused by the second. "Arianna-ya. You were the one to bring them up."

Trembling now, Arianna tried to talk her way out of telling him her new friends' secret. "Oh. Right. Um… What was the question again?"

Law couldn't help but chuckle at her now. "What are they hiding from me?"

"They aren't hiding anything. Nothing that I know of. Promise. I don't know anything!" She started to flail her arms but when she did her left shoulder sent her a sharp pain and she couldn't move her arm all the way, causing her to curl over holding her shoulder. "Ow! Okay. That hurt."

Law's anger apparently gone thanks to the amusing show that was the girl trying to lie to him, he got closer and started checking her arm, feeling her up to her shoulder. "Your shoulder was dislocated. Hold still."

It was all the warning that he gave Arianna before taking a firm grip on her arm and shoulder and putting it back in place. "Ah!" It was possibly more painful the hit that messed up her shoulder in the first place.

Law sounded calm as possible, though he was wearing his trademark smirk. "You're fine."

A little teary eyed, she couldn't help but whine out "What are you talking about?! That hurt like hell!"

Law had finally relaxed his posture. "Your shoulder's back in place, so yeah, you're fine. You are a horrible liar Arianna-ya."

The girl could only hang her head as she replied. "Yeah. I get that a lot."

She heard the man chuckle. "A poor quality for a pirate. But at least it makes you easier to read. And just so we're clear, I already suspected what those two are hiding but thanks for confirming it."

Arianna gave him a shocked expression. "Really? That's a relief. Now that I think about it, Oliver said that he thought you might suspect something. Anyways, do you want to go back to training or just go back to the ship for the day?"

Law looked up at the sky then answered. "It's still early afternoon. Let's continue."

()

With that, Arianna led them to a new part of the forest outside the area damaged by Law's power. Once they had found a new location the two once again put their belongings down and once again took their stances against one another and Arianna began attacking him with an erratic series of punches and kick while Law did his best to avoid them. At first the he could only block the attacks and occasionally couldn't guard in time, taking what was always surprisingly powerful hits from such a small girl. The more times he had gotten hit or blocked her attacks the better he was starting to anticipate the attacks. Eventually he started avoiding her strikes altogether. When he did Arianna called out to him, never stopping her assault, making it sound like a ghost was speaking to him. "That feeling that's telling you how to move, don't lose it. Let it consume you so you can become as familiar with the sensation as you are with you vision."

Though he understood what she meant, Law was having trouble allowing his Haki to overtake his other senses, it was like trying to change your dominant hand for no reason. The body was simply too used to using the basic senses that trying make a new one take over them was making them push to be used, though her relentless attack against him were actually helping. With his Haki directing him to safety at every strike from the girl his body's need to keep itself safe began letting the Haki push forward past everything else. After what felt like hours of Arianna working to find or even force an opening in Law's defense to give him a dangerous, direct hit to his body. He realized that more of her hits than not were slipping past him, hitting nothing but air or an occasional tree and the ground, which became noticeably damaged. It was about this point that Arianna called for them to take a break, to which Law couldn't deny that he was grateful for.

With the captain agreed to the break, Arianna basically fell to the ground panting, arms and legs splayed out. Law sat down at a tree and removed his sweatshirt feeling a bit overheated from the activity. After a few minutes of sitting with only the sound of their panting Arianna suddenly pulled herself up and trotted over to pick up her bag and sat down close to Law before digging through it, pulling out another smaller pouch tightly tied shut. He saw that she was smiling cheerily as she opened it, revealing cooked meat. She took a chunk and then held the pouch out to Law, "Here take some. I just cooked it yesterday."

Law took a chunk and stared at it. "I thought you were supposed to give all of the meat you brought back to Thomas-ya."

Still smiling as she took another chunk, she answered in between the bites. "He didn't want this one."

He was about to put the meat in his mouth but stopped after remembering exactly what she brought back to the ship. "Is this the squirrel that you caught?"

Completely unfazed Arianna offered a "Yep." When she saw that he wasn't eating it the girl gave him a mocking look. "Big dangerous pirate captain afraid to eat something he never realized was food too?"

Taking the girl's challenge, Law tossed the piece in his mouth. _*It's not that bad I suppose.* _

As if having heard his thoughts the girl next to him asked, "Not bad, huh? It's much better freshly cooked. You'd probably like it a lot more then."

After taking a few more pieces each Law saw that Arianna was staring at him. "What?"

Jumping back out of her thoughts, she glanced away with a slight blush. "Sorry. I just realized that you're actually kind of lean. I don't know, I kind of thought you were scrawny."

Caught between deciding to be upset about being called scrawny and amused that she was caught staring, Law eventually chose to not respond to either. He didn't want to waste the energy. But that didn't stop her from continuing.

"Though I shouldn't be surprised..." He saw her pull her right wristband forward and saw a deep bruise. "In raw power you definitely outclass me. That wouldn't be if you were what I expected."

Law realized the bruise was from their initial spar, when she blocked his punch at the end.

Feeling that they rested enough the pirate captain stood up and put his sweatshirt next to his sword. "Let's get back to work."

Arianna nodded in agreement and put her bag back and took her stance a few feet from Law, then resumed her assault on the man.

()

When it started to get darker Law called for her to stop. "Let's end this for today and head back to the ship."

"I'm good with that, Captain." She called back.

They were both once again exhausted and clearly ready for the day to end. Neither wanted to use the energy to try and so much as start a conversation, so they collected their things in silence and Arianna lead them out of the forest, after which Law lead them back to the ship. By the time they got back it was just past dusk. Surprisingly most of the crew was outside waiting, with Bepo noticing their approach first. "Captain, you're back!"

At the bear's announcement all of the other men looked up from whatever was occupying their individual attention and crowded around the two. After taking in a closer look at his friend the bear realized that he was shockingly worse for wear. "What happened?! Are you okay?! Ari-chan what did you do?"

Having heard the question, the rest of the men looked angrily at the girl, with Marcus giving and especially harsh look. Feeling increasingly nervous at the sight of an angry pirate crew, Arianna put her hands up defensively as she tried to explain quickly. "It's from the training. Do you seriously think Captain would bring me back with him if it was anything else?"

Bepo instantly relaxed when he saw that Law nodded in confirmation of the explanation. "That's true. If you became his enemy you'd be cut to pieces." He sounded a little too happy with his words.

"Right." The girl said nervously. _*No need to say that that happened too.*_

Oliver, who was standing quietly and watching the scene rather than being a part of it as he seemed to prefer, took a quick step forward and grabbed Arianna's hand. "Your hands are looking bad too."

For the first time she looked down at them and realized that her knuckles were bloodied and her fingers as well as the back of her hands were a deep purple color. _*It's probably because Law was actually avoiding the hits a lot better the last couple of hours so I was hitting trees and the ground more than anything.* _Shrugging it off, Arianna took her hand out of Oliver's. "Injuries can't always be helped right? Besides, it looks worse than it feels."

Apparently not wanting to continue standing there Law spoke up. "Let's go inside for the night."

At that everyone crowded into the ship. Oliver took Arianna's hand again and pulled her to the infirmary before she could protest. As she was pulled in through the door she saw Law continue downstairs talking to Bepo, not bothering to check his own injuries despite being worse off than she.

After washing her hands at the medics order, Arianna sat down in the same chair she had that morning while Oliver shuffled through the cabinets and came back with an ointment. As he gently rubbed it into her knuckles the girl stared at him feeling incredible conflicted. _*Should I tell him that Law knows?* _

Noticing her staring, Oliver looked up at her. "Something wrong?"

Looking into his kind, strikingly blue eyes the decision was made. _*Nope. I can't tell him.* _Still, she needed something to say. "Sorry. I'm tired."

He sighed with a smile. "You look it. Captain too. I'm sure you want to go straight to sleep but you should definitely shower first. No one usually showers at night, but if you want I could stand guard at the door since a few of the guys did some training and probably need to shower too."

Looking at him like he was some kind of divine gift, Arianna really wanted to hug him but refrained. She didn't want to get him dirty too, so she settled with a bright smile and her sincerest gratitude. "Thank you!"

They left the infirmary together.

()

After discussing the crew's activities in his absence with his first mate, Law was subjected to the bear's incessant worry. "What kind of training are you doing that leaves you in this kind of shape? Are you sure this is the best way for you to get stronger? Please take me with you next time. Captain I'm serious. I don't like seeing you get hurt like this!"

With most people Law would stop their rambling immediately, but he allowed Bepo since voicing his concerns would help the bear feel better. When he was done Law finally began speaking. "I'm not in that bad of shape. It's just some bruising, I already checked myself for any internal damage on the way back. And even though the training is rough it's most definitely effective. In just one day of it I went from having Kenbunshoku Haki but not even aware of it, to having a good sense of it in me. Now I need to learn to control and expand it."

Bepo was speechless for a moment at his captain's words. When he did speak there was a note of excitement in his voice and even a little dance in his step. "You already have Haki? That's amazing news! You're really growing so much further ahead than the rest of us."

Then the bear stopped, so Law stopped to and watched as his friend fell in his despair. "How can we fight alongside you if we are so weak?"

Sighing, Law reassured the sad animal. "You said the crew was working hard training today too. Everyone gets stronger in different ways, so don't get bothered by every little detail. As long as everyone, you included, grow even a little every day I'm content."

The words worked, and Bepo gave him a great big smile. "You're right. Did you need anything else? I'm going to go make sure everyone knows you've returned."

"No. Go ahead. Goodnight Bepo." With the bear running off to track down each crewmember, Law finally arrived to his room. Once inside he immediately made his way to the private bathroom on the opposite side of the room from his bed. He just wanted to take a cold shower to ease the pain raging through his body. When he removed his clothes he was able survey the damage of the training. He couldn't describe what he saw any better than that he was more bruised than not. The only thing he had more of than bruising was pain. The whole situation made him unhappy. It reminded him of the training he underwent as a child. _*She really wasn't holding back. I know she said she was going to try to hurt me but this was more than I expect her to be able to.* _Sighing again, Law took his shower and went to sleep before any more pain had the chance to set in.

* * *

**Hello! I hope you all liked the chapter. I actually wrote certain parts of the chapter few different ways and settled on this sequence of events. Before anyone get upset about my adding information concerning Law's Ope Ope powers go, I'm not all that fond of altering canon information but I really like the idea that Law's powers can kill, but I also didn't want to change it too much, so I tried to get a little bit of middle ground :)**

**Comments, criticisms, and corrections all make me smile so do it! :)**

**Son of Whitebeard: Exactly. They're pirates. Pirates don't always get satisfied endings.**

**L. t. tiger: My old nemesis, the letter "e" (****￣皿￣****)**

**Seriously, the majority of my spelling mistakes in life are because I put an "e" on the end words that don't have them, or take it off when it does belong. Don't feel bad about anything you ever post. It never hurts my feelings, I appreciate it all. The good and bad. It helps for better writing. **

**Yeah, Connor's and Oliver's relationship will make for some fun situation's in the future.**

**For the fight, I didn't want to go too complex with it, that's why I stuck to fodder marines. It was my first fight scene after all. And with the killing, I feel like the Straw Hats not killing anyone is an anomaly in the One Piece world. If you remember before joining them, Robin was actually working as Crocodile's assassin, so her job was actually to kill people. And with Law, I don't see him just going around killing people, but he will if they risk causing problems for him later on.**

**Ramble on my friend! I love it :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm sorry for the long wait, and the chapter isn't that long either. In my defense I actually wrote almost three chapters because I just couldn't get comfortable with how the chapter was going the first two times. And a word of advice. If you have a hobby you love and a job you love, do not pick up extra hours because you will no longer like your job because it takes away all the time for a hobby. :/**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

When Arianna woke up that morning she absolutely did not want to. Her muscles were sorer than they had been in a while and she wished to simply stay in bed, but she knew she can't. Looking up at the small clock perched on a wall of her room she saw that it read 6:03. The sight of it made her shoot up out of her cozy bed. _*I over slept!*_

After that immediate thought she remembered that it didn't matter, she was always the first up by far, which she used as her opportunity to shower, but since she did the previous night it could be skipped this morning, and she doesn't expect anyone to be in the kitchen for another 17 minutes. Walking over to a trunk that she had been keeping her various things in when she didn't need them in her bag, she pulled out her black shirt and dark pants, putting them on she realized that her fox pelt had become somewhat shredded and she had not altered her new furs since she was planned to sell them. The only other furs she had was the bear vest that she had been careful not to wear since joining the crew and a wolf tail. She told herself she'd sell the vest but couldn't help looking longingly at the garment, it was important to her. The other one ties to her belt and she wasn't allowed to carry her weapons into the kitchen so she usually doesn't bother putting her belt on at all for breakfast, she was forced without either. Pulling on her Blade, wristbands, three armbands and sage necklace, she locked her belt with her other two weapons safely in the trunk. Arianna combed her hair, tied it into low pigtails, pulled on her shoes and leisurely made her way to the bathroom then the kitchen.

"Good morning." She called when she entered, immediately making her way to the sink to wash her hands as she had be repeatedly reminded every meal for the first few days. Thomas, who was instructing a muscular man with messy reddish-brown hair, _*Austin right?*_, since he was the only other person in the room yet, glanced at her for a greeting and gave her a simple task to start with as always. This time it's breaking eggs into a large bowl as Austin stirred them and periodically poured some onto a large heated metal counter. _*Some kind of "grill" they called it I think?*_ As she did this the other kitchen workers slowly made their way in, washed their hands and did as Thomas told them, most of which was to leave since not everyone was needed. By the time everyone passed through, Arianna's work was done. "Tom-san, is there anything else you want me to do?" She hated the idea of standing there with nothing to do but was not about to leave without permission.

"Just start setting up at the window then you can eat." was all he said, not taking the time to looking at her.

As she did that the rest of the crew began making their way into the galley and lining up for their food. With that done she filled a plate up with eggs, bacon, and toast, filled a glass of water and went into the galley to sit and eat. She started slowly both out of courtesy so that her friends could get their food and eat with her and because her hands still hurt very much so gripping the fork was uncomfortable. After a few minutes of picking at her food Shachi and Penguin sat down and were closely followed by Marcus and Connor. "Huh? Where's Oliver?" The missing man caught Arianna curiosity.

"He's sleeping in. It's not a big deal, he was up late in the infirmary since a lot of the guys hurt themselves training late last night." Marcus answered.

The confusion at Marcus being the one to know must have been clear on her face because Connor clarified for her. "Marcus, Austin, Oliver and I are all roommates."

"Shachi and I room with Newt and Kalas. I don't think you met them officially yet. You should get around to it soon, they're two of my best mechanics." Penguin said proudly, then he took a large bite of his eggs and exclaimed "The breakfast is great Ari-chan!"

She raised an eyebrow at him but smiled too when she replied. "You do realize I'm not actually doing any cooking? All I did this morning was break eggs and set up the counter."

Shachi tired to follow suit and be a charmer. "That's still helping with the cooking. So, thank you!"

Though Marcus just ignored them, Connor refused to, plus he couldn't help and tease the girl. "When will you two give up on her? Half-Pint is too much of a kid to even know what a man is for."

It took one look at Connor's smug grin to convince Arianna that she shouldn't let it go, "Whether or not I do is up for debate. Though you absolutely _do_ know what a man is for, don't you Connor?"

Her tone was utterly playful and teasing, but Connor still couldn't stop the flash of panic from crossing his face before the anger at her tease and Shachi and Penguin's roaring laughter kicked in, turning him bright red. "What was that you brat?!"

She couldn't help but pull her smirk wider and make her tone even more singsong than before. "Or perhaps you don't."

That sent the two laughing pirates rolling on the ground, and even Marcus was laughing hard. Connor however was up and jumping over the table after her. As he moved after her, Arianna got up and started running away, laughing as she danced around the walking crewmembers carrying full trays while Connor nearly tackled into each one earning many complaints from the men. Bepo started chasing after them, yelling at them to behave. The commotion unfortunately caught Thomas' attention from the kitchen door. "What do you idiots think you're doing? Are you trying to make a mess of my galley?!"

All three stopped in their tracts and looked exactly like each other, head hung and apologizing sadly. "We're sorry."

"You!" Thomas said in his stern voice, pointing at Arianna then a tray of food he set down on the window counter. "Take this meal up to Captain."

She couldn't help but pout. "Why me again? I'm not your only worker." As she spoke Connor and Bepo was trying their best to get her to stop talking.

They could all swear that a vein in the chef's forehead burst at her back talk. With a roar of anger, he picked the girl up by her shirt and threw her through the galley doors into the hallway. "Do as you're told little shit!"

Arianna landed hard face down on the metal floor with a loud gasp "OOF!" She was vaguely aware of the tray of food that he must have thrown out after her as it slid across the floor, stopping next to her head. After taking a second to sigh, face still in the floor, Arianna got up and carried the tray upstairs. Once she made it to his room door she started to lift her hand to knock but curling her hand into a fist sent an uncomfortable pain through her knuckles, so she kicked at the door instead. _*I wonder if he didn't come down because he's asleep.* _Just as she started considering what to do if he doesn't answer the girl heard the man voice from in the room. "Come in."

Walking inside, she was surprised to see that Law was sitting at his desk looking over some papers, and without his hat too. She tried to place the tray down but couldn't find a clear spot big enough for it. "Where should I put your breakfast?"

"On the bed is fine." Once again she was being spoken to without being looked at.

*_Between Tom-san and Law I'm really starting to get sick of how Worlders treat their subordinates.* _She couldn't help that thought as she carried the food to the neatly made bed and placing it next to his hat. _*Uh, did I make my bed?* _Taking a second to think she came up with her answer. _*Nope.* _

Walking back to the desk, she couldn't help but sit down in the chair facing Law. She wanted to take his current appearance in. Since his hat was off his short black hair was entirely visible matching his small goatee, he was wearing a short sleeved grey shirt that showed his tattooed forearms and hands. _*Why does he only have the fingers on one hand tattooed?* _She silently asked herself. She was certain he was wearing the same looking spotted jeans as he usually does. Looking again at his arms it didn't take much inspection to notice the bruises on them and his hands. He was slouched in his chair a bit but it was probably because he was leaning on one fist over the desk. _*He doesn't seem to be in pain.* _She didn't want to say anything to Thomas, but she didn't want to be the one to take Law his food because she was worried him not coming to the galley was because of her rough training on him the day before. "Do you see something that interests you Arianna-ya?"

She looked back to his face with an innocently questioning expression and a "Huh?" She could see a teasing smirk on his face and there was definitely a tone in his voice that helped his implication of something that went over her head. _*"Half-Pint is too much of a kid to even know what a man is for."* _Her traitorous mind recalled Connor's teasing words, causing her to go bright red and turn around completely in her chair with a yelp, burying her face in the back of it. "No. Just trying to see if you didn't come to breakfast because you were too hurt." Her voice came out quiet and muffled because of her position.

"Ah. If you say so." He was definitely entertained. "No. I just wanted to go over these papers first thing today since I didn't yesterday."

Slowly turning back to face the man, Arianna tried to not let his question stay in her mind. "Do you want to train some more while we're still on the island?"

Law seemed to be staring at her but his yellow eyes looked like they weren't seeing her. "Are you even sure you want to? I know your hands hurt seeing as how you kicked my door instead of knocking."

She glanced at her hand, they were an even darker shade of purple than last night now that the bruise had time to set in and her knuckles were scabbed over, then back at him. "I won't really notice once I get going."

He seemed to start thinking again, getting a slight frown on his face. "No, not today. You should take it easier today too. I don't want you being carried to my infirmary because you overworked yourself."

Arianna couldn't contain a slightly smug smirk that forced its way to her face. _*I knew he was painful too.* _"Does that mean I can go have that free time you didn't let me have yesterday?!" She was hopeful.

"No." She was foolish.

She started to push herself off the chair but stopped when Law asked something in a disinterested tone.

"Where's your fur pelt?"

The question caught her off guard. "My pelt?"

Still in that same tone, he asked again. "You wear a red or grey pelt every day, but now you're not. Why?"

A little taken back by his sudden curiosity about her appearance, her answer almost sounded like a question. "My red fox fur actually got damaged yesterday and my grey wolf tail goes on my belt. Since I don't put it on for breakfast duty I didn't have anything to tie the tail to."

Law simply looked at her as his unexpected curiosity was fulfilled. Then, possibly for that reason he decided to let her have her way. "Ask Marcus if he'd be willing to go with you. If he does you can go inland but keep in mind your kitchen duties and that we are leaving the island in just over ten hours."

She looked back to half-heartedly complain about needing her baby-sitter to come with her but still thank the man and saw that his full attention was back on the papers on his desk. Instead she glanced at the tray that brought her to his room in the first place. "Don't forget to eat you food." Remembering Shachi and Penguin's attempts at flattery she decided to add on with a smile, "I worked hard to make it." And left the room.

()

Law didn't see her leave but he did hear Arianna's parting words. He didn't even try to hide the amused smirk at them. Why bother, he was alone. He knew that the girl brought the food to him at Thomas' order and was more concerned about how the chef would react to an uneaten meal then the girl forced to bring it to him. So he moved some papers around and retrieved the plate off his bed to sit and eat. While he did his mind wondered to Arianna's reaction to having been caught inspecting him. She said that she was just looking to see if he was in pain and he believed her. The man saw firsthand how well the girl could lie. _*I definitely can't trust her with any jobs that would require her to be deceitful.* _But at the same time she couldn't have reacted any better if he wanted her to. That flustered behavior was such a stark contrast to the ferocity she showed the previous day that it made her all the more interesting to him.

()

After leaving Law's room Arianna went back down to the galley to help clean. When she got there she learned that Thomas sent all the workers off to do whatever they wanted and she was to clean the galley and kitchen alone. "To make sure you remembers your place." Thomas told her.

After scrubbing the kitchen top to bottom as she had been shown her first few days she had to wash the food trays, plates, forks and cups then clean the tables, benches, and floors. _*I swear these pig pirates made a bigger mess than normal on purpose!* _The entire time she cleaned Thomas sat watching her, making sure she did it all and alone and then when she was done, checking that her work was up to his standard. When she had finally finished two hours had passed and she was actually feeling even _sorer_ than when she woke up. The moment Thomas said "Don't forget to come back at 12 for the lunch shift." the girl nearly sprinted out of the galley and on deck.

After taking in a deep breath of the air with her hands stretching so high into the sky that her whole body felt it she did a quick mental count of how long she had before she had to be back in the kitchen, going off of the time she saw when leaving. _*Three hours before I'm stuck in that kitchen again. Gotta find Marcus!*_

Not wanting to waste any of her short and precious time Arianna began her search of the ship for the man. She started with the infirmary since it was closest and he worked there, but it was empty. She ran downstairs and went up and down the halls relying on her Sense to search the rooms rather than check door by door. Of course she didn't know Marcus' presence well enough to locate him with it alone so she did have to check the rooms with any person in it. During her search she came across Austin in a storage room that the kitchen uses. Remembering what Connor told her at breakfast about him sharing a room with both Austin and Marcus, she decided it couldn't hurt to ask him if he knew where the man she was looking for was. "Austin, have you seen Marcus?"

"He left the ship after breakfast with Penguin and Shachi. After breakfast Captain said that everyone can come and go as long as they come back for lunch and remember when we're leaving." His answer was heartbreaking. She won't even get the chance to leave the ship at all now.

"If you wanted to go with him then you shouldn't have pissed Tom-san off." Austin, being Thomas' student in the kitchen, took it personally that she was "disrespectful" to the head chef.

"I wasn't that rude." Though she said this, she said it quietly so he wouldn't hear before raising her voice again. "I guess I'll try finding him after lunch. Thank you, Austin." She had to work with him daily so she figured it would be better that she at least be polite to the man.

"See ya in a few hours." He said as she turned and left the room.

Completely deflated, Arianna made her way back to her room. If she wasn't leaving the ship then she should try to find something productive to do. In her room she collected the bones and the animal pelts then went up to the deck so that she could at least take in as much sunlight and fresh air as possible. Once on the main deck it was painfully obvious that the rest of the crew were free to come and go from the ship, so to get away from having to see everyone walk on and off the sub, she went back into the ship and took a secondary staircase to go up onto a smaller deck that comes out on the opposite side of the ships entrance. The majority of the crew rarely went up there because it wasn't big enough for them to all gather in the large groups they naturally collected in.

Once she settled in, Arianna began laying out one of the rabbit fur and mindlessly pulled the hair out of the squirrel so that it would be bare as she tried to decide what to make. Looking over herself in thought she decided that she could use spare shoes, especially since her current ones are getting very wore out. So once the squirrel was just skin she cut it into long strips and then removed her shoes to measure out how big, or rather small, her feet were. Since she was just using rabbits, which meant little room for mistakes, she settled to make them more like slippers than the ankle covering shoes she currently uses. She wasn't concerned about making a mistake but it's always better to give yourself some room for error. Cutting and shaping two of the rabbits that she had with her into the proper shape and size she began threading the strips through the different pieces. With that done she took the third rabbit and started removing the fur and then layered half of it on the bottom of each shoe to reinforce them. After that was done she tried them on and was pleased that they fit properly. _*Time to make them pretty.* _She thought with a smile and giggle. Digging through her bag again she pulled out one of the bones she brought with her and started carving it to be narrower and cut it to be half the size of her thumb with her knife. It was already small, one of the squirrel bones from the looks of it, so it didn't take much. Releasing the thin Hunter's Blade on her wrist, she used it to carve a hole though the bone and then switched back to her knife to draw patterns on the outside. It was a delicate process that irritated her hands, but the familiar work was also comforting. It was just as she was starting to make progress on the pattern that she heard the door open and turned to look at the man with an increasingly familiar presence. "Hi, Captain."

()

He was rather surprise and even a little unhappy to see her. Law went to this smaller deck so that he could be alone in the fresh air. "Why are you up here?"

Arianna's face slipped into a pout when she answered. "Marcus already left by the time I was allowed to go look for him. Tom-san made me clean the kitchen and galley alone."

Law walked closer to her to get a better look at what she was doing. _*Making shoes?* _"I know. That's not what I mean. It's almost twelve."

It took a second for her mind to process what Law was saying, but when it did it was obvious. "Ahhh! If I get Tom-san mad at me twice in one day I might be stuck with solo cleaning forever!"

_*She's more concerned about getting stuck cleaning alone than pissing off one of the people in charge of her?* _He thought, a little dumbstruck. He watched her collect and shove everything she brought with her into her bag, but he knew that she probably wouldn't make it in time if she had to stop at her room. He sat down. _*Not my problem.* _With the deck to himself, Law decided there was no harm in taking a nap, Bepo knew to come here and get him when lunch was ready.

After such a short amount of time that it didn't even feel like a nap, Law was woken up by the bear telling him lunch was ready. Trying unsuccessfully to stretch the soreness away from his body, Law stood up but was stopped when he noticed something long and round on the ground. Picking it up to examine it he realized it was the bone Arianna was carving. Silently, he pocked it and followed his companion downstairs to the galley to eat. Today Thomas had the kitchen prepare seared vegetables and grilled fish, while some of the men on the crew might not like it he personally enjoyed this type of meal.

Taking a seat next to Jean Bart, Law was more than content eating his meal in peace and quiet. Unfortunately that was not going to happen. While he was still chewing his first bite Penguin nearly ran into the table and started talking. "Hey Captain! Where have you been? No one's seen you all day except for when you told everyone that we can leave the ship."

"My room. Did someone need something?" If a member of his crew went looking for him, they didn't try very hard.

"Well, not _need_. Shachi and I were hoping you'd come out to town with us." Even though Penguin seemed sincerely upset that they didn't think to go to his room to ask him, in Law's opinion it didn't matter.

"I wouldn't have gone anyways." He said bluntly.

Penguin seemed almost offended. "Why not?"

He answered just as bluntly as before. "Anywhere you two go you cause trouble and I don't want to be around for it."

As he was talking Shachi walked up and heard what was being said about him and his friend, slightly upsetting him. So of course he had to say something to poke the metaphoric bear of the crew that was its captain, as the real one was a bit of a push over. "You used to be a lot more fun. When we first started sailing we didn't even have to ask you to come along with us, you always did."

Law's face turned into a deep frown and his eyes were shadowed by the rim of his hat. When he lifted his face there was a dangerous narrowing to his yellow eyes. "Any other reminiscing you want to do?"

Penguin sensed the danger that Shachi apparently didn't, so when the red headed medic opened his mouth again his friend threw is hand over his mouth immediately and started shoving him away with a nervous smile. "E-Enjoy your lunch, Captain!"

After they returned to their group, that unsurprisingly to Law included Arianna since her arrival, he resumed his peaceful meal with one of the few members of the crew that don't annoy him. When he was done Law stopped at the rowdy group at the center of the room, and looked at the girl who was continuing to tell Oliver of her punishment that morning though she glanced his way to acknowledge him. Bepo smiled at his approach, while Shachi and Penguin stiffed slightly. Reaching into his pocket, Law pulled out the small bone he found, "Arianna-ya, you left this outside."

When she saw what was in his hand the girl brightened into a big smile. "Thank you! Those are hard to make. I would've hated to have to start over."

After she pocketed the little object Law looked back to the rest of the group, especially Marcus. "If you guys take her out make sure you don't lose her and be back by five. I'm not staying on this island any longer than I have to."

His fear now gone, Shachi got a big smile on his face that made Law not want to know any shade of an idea as to what he was going to do when they go back inland. Penguin, though he was smiling it had a bit less of a disturbed thought-inducing expression and said to him, "We'll take care of her."

Marcus spoke up, probably so Law wouldn't have to. "No you won't. I'll keep an eye on her for you."

Though Arianna's back was turned, Law was certain she was wearing her pout, which promised him a show so he sat down to watch. "You guys do realize I'm not a child right?"

Seizing the opportunity to tease her, Connor said otherwise. "You're the Heart Pirate's adorably little girl. Didn't you know that, Half-Pint?"

Her hand hit the table as she almost yelled. "I'm not a kid! I'm 21! And I was the fifth oldest in my Family!"

This took everyone by surprise, so now Arianna had seven pairs of questioning eyes on her, and she seemed nervous about it. Marcus recovered quicker than the rest. "Exactly how big is your family?"

Pausing, her eyes looked up to the ceiling as she started _counting_. "Fifteen. It's really small. The only ones older than me are Grandma Lumie, Grandma Nona, my brother Ike and my sister Raven though just barely."

All of the pirates had the same thought. _*That's small?!* _

But then a thought occurred to the captain. "By 'family', do you mean relatives or your Tribe?"

That's when that "shouldn't that be obvious" look came to her face. "My Tribe of course. We actually don't give too much concern as to who is a blood relative. It's all one big, happy Family. And other Tribes are our Friends."

That she didn't' have a family of fourteen relative, but instead fourteen Tribesmen, brought a collective sigh of relief from the men at the table. "Are Raven and Ike just other members of your tribe then?" Marcus asked.

"No, I don't have any blood relatives if that's what you're getting at. But don't ever discredit the bonds between a Tribe Family. We're as real of a Family as blood relative. Maybe closer." She seemed a little offended at the question.

Bepo decided to ask a safer question, "You said Raven is only just barely older. So how much?"

The smile was back on her face. "Only a day. And Ike is three years older."

"Wow. Just a day really is only barely." Oliver commented.

She giggled, "Yeah. When we were little everyone joked that we're twins who accidently had different mothers. Though we're nothing alike. She can act more like a mom sometimes. Her and Ike liked to joke that they raised the all of us and that we should call them 'Mama' and 'Papa'."

Law was pleased that she was talking about her past. If she won't tell him who she's hunting then he's hoping that she will tell him enough to figure it out on his own. "Why would they have to raise you?"

Her face became deeply somber, and for a moment Law thought she wouldn't answer. "Lumie and Nona are elderly and can't be expected to raise thirteen growing kids and teenagers. They were like the doctors for the Tribe so they took care of use whenever we were hurt but Ike led us."

"Why would a kid be in charge of other kids?" Penguin asked.

Arianna was starting to get defensive again. "It's just how it happened."

Law could tell that she was not keen on continuing since the questions were going in a direction that she apparently didn't like. If he let her be pushed too much too early she might never reveal what Law wants to know. "Arianna-ya, do you have to clean the kitchen or galley?"

The seemingly random question from Law brought everyone's attention to the fact that they were alone in the galley, except for two other members of the kitchen staff who were cleaning. She looked at him slightly grateful, "Probably. Let me go see what Tom-san wants me to do?"

She got up and disappeared into the kitchen, but came back almost immediately and excitedly. "Tom-san said I'm okay to skip cleaning this time. Are we going inland, now?"

Law noticed Marcus smirk among the happy smiles after being reminded of their plan to leave the ship for a few hours. "Even though we're going on the island doesn't mean we're going into the woods."

She deflated slightly. "Why not?"

Then collectively all of the men answered. "Because we don't want to."

At that they all got up and start leaving the galley. Arianna looked back at the man still sitting at the table. "Are you not coming?"

"No. I'm going to stay so that I'll know when everyone is back." Even though Law implied that he'd leave any stragglers behind on the island, it was a hollow threat and they knew it. At least the ones who had been in the crew for a long time knew it.

When he did leave the galley, Law went downstairs to the navigation room to go over plans for their next move, once they leave, with Jean Bart.

_*Those guys better enjoy being on land now, because they might not get to for a long time.*_

* * *

**And that's it for chapter 10! I'm sorry I spent so much time at this one island. By the time we made it to the end of the log post time I set in the first chapter of this island I was sick of this place. But it's okay, it's over now and we can all move on to the next island that won't take as long. In celebration of making through my first 10 chapters I want to give honorable shout-outs. Corazon D. Law for being the first reader to favorite and follow the story. Son of Whitebeard for being the first reader to leave a review. sarge1130 for pointing out that major typing error. And of course all of my wonderful readers! Thank you all for joining me in this story! I look forward to continuing this with you for a long time. Until then comments, criticisms, and corrections all make me smile so please do it :)**

**sarge1130: You think my fight scenes were well written? *does Chopper's happy dance***

**I'm really happy you liked my last couple of chapters, I was proud of how they turned out. Yeah, I didn't want to put off the Haki training too far that's why I made the in-story promise that it will begin before they leave the island. Actually the other medics like Shachi or Oliver could treat Law if necessary and that will probably come up at some point. Oh and if you want to watch Law in a hand to hand fight watch the anime episode 627 or youtube "episode 627 Luffy vs. Law" for just the fight scene. It was a filler episode so if you only read the manga you would miss it :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for this wait. Stupidly busy with work and other things that don't matter here. Anyways enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

It was getting late, but Law simply couldn't sleep, instead he was lying in bed for hours on end with his mind running nonstop. He had nothing to do necessarily as he and his crew was still sailing for their next island so there was nothing to make plans for and everything in stock was counted already. With sleep apparently out of reach Law decided to put on the first shirt he could find, his hoodie unsurprisingly, and walked up to the deck. Since the Heart Pirates had been at sea for over two weeks now Law had approved Bepo and Bart to keep the ship surfaced at all times so anyone can go outside for fresh air whenever desired. Like now.

Once he made it to the deck he took a second to close his eyes and took a breath in the cool, clean air. As much as he liked his sub he had to admit, it could get stuffy and stale at times. He made his way across the deck to the far side and stretched out on the floor to look up at the clear sky. He figured that if his mind won't calm itself enough for him to sleep on its own, then maybe watching the sky would help it along. It was working and he could feel his mind slowly growing quiet as he let his vision swim around the distant lights above him. "What are you doing up here?" said a quiet voice.

There goes his quiet moment alone.

"I should ask you the same." He said not looking at the only girl on the ship since it wasn't like he needed to check who it was. Law didn't owe her an explanation, so why give her one.

"Would you mind if I joined you?" She did not give him an explanation for her presence either.

Arianna, surprisingly, stood awaiting his answer. "Might as well." He said finally, to which she walked over to the railing at the edge, about two feet from Law, and laid down with her leg dangling over the side.

With her closer to him he realized that she was wet and wearing the clothes she had the day before: black shirt and dark pants though like him she was bare foot and oddly lacked any leather bands from her arms and wrists. She was holding something big and furry that Law did not recognize. "What is that?"

She glanced down at the object in her hands, than held it up for him to see. It was a long dark brown fur vest, the fur seemed vaguely familiar to him for some reason. Remembering a conversation they had in his room weeks ago, Law asked, "I thought you said you only had the fox and wolf furs. Where did that come from?"

"Hmm. I don't have the fox anymore, remember?" She paused, apparently unsure on how to finish. "I hadn't been wearing this because I don't want to freak Bepo out. It's a bear skin after all." She said nervously.

_*Bear fur. No wonder it looked sort of familiar.* _Considering the amount of time Law spent napping on his animal companion, it isn't a shock that he could recognize bear fur. "That's stupid. Just do it. Bepo does realize that you likely killed bears, he'll quickly get over the confirmation of it." Law's tone was entirely flat, showing his lack of concern for the subject.

Her face simply blanked out, probably surprised. "Okay…"

He looked up and down her clothes again, the back of his mind reminding him that she has been going back and forth between what she's wearing now and what she wore that day. "You should've taken that last day on Breezy Cove to get new clothes, it's not sanitary to go only be wearing the same two outfits like this."

She frowned. "I don't have any money. You took what little I had when I joined and also my reward money from the day we met, remember? Besides, it's not like I'm wearing dirty clothes. I wash what I'm not wearing every day."

"I said 'get' not 'buy'. You're a pirate and we were leaving that day, it really wouldn't have mattered if you caused any trouble to the town at that point." It seemed odd to him that he had to remind the girl that she was actually a criminal, and the thought of stealing some clothes shouldn't be so shocking.

When he looked at her face he could see that she was bothered by his comment but then he could see a new thought coming across her mind as her expression changed to something more accusatory. "Don't tell me... You didn't pay for that night we spent at the tavern, did you?"

Law's face lifted into an amused smirk, "How could I? The man working at the time we left was preoccupied."

"'Preoccupied'? Is that what you call bleeding to death on the floor, Doctor?" Someone was still unhappy about the killing.

"Technically he was already dead before he hit the floor. And why are you so upset about my killing that man when you killed plenty in the same day?" He wasn't particular bothered by her opinion of his actions, but he was curious as to why she carried this particular double-standard.

"That man did nothing against your crew. All the men I killed were trying to kill us." She didn't sound like the talk of her killing others bothered her, but Law did notice that she held the fur in her arms slightly tighter.

"It's interesting that you say 'your crew' and not 'our crew' or something along those lines." He sharpened his eyes to watch her every movement.

"Not that interesting." She said quietly, once again squeezing the fur a little tighter but nothing else.

He was still watching her every little movement, _*There she goes again. Answering a question or accusation with a comment that really just distracts from the fact that she didn't answer.* _Law thought. Looking back up at the sky, Law tried to salvage that mental peace that he had just before she came up, lucky for him Arianna stayed quiet.

After a few minutes of silent staring Law decided to get up and leave. "Don't stay awake too much longer." He warned, not bothering to tell her to come inside soon since it was unlikely that she would listen that order.

She made a noncommittal noise but otherwise didn't respond. Once behind the closed door Law scratched his head in thought. _*She never did say why she was awake. Now I kind of wish I'd pushed her a little to get an answer. Oh well. There's always tomorrow.*_

()

Unsurprisingly, Arianna stayed outside for the rest of the night. She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, she spent the night staring at the stars until she opened her eyes to the subtly grayish blue sky of dawn. Once awake she rushed in downstairs and was relieved that she was not late for breakfast duty, though she wasn't as early as she normally is. As the newest member of the crew she was going to be one of the few who had to stay and work while most of the others got to relax and wait in the galley, in fact it was just her, Thomas and another cook named Kai. _*Is this stupid "newest member" rule going to last forever?* _Slipping her vest on her body since it was still in her arms when she entered, Arianna quickly got to work on the mindless jobs that Thomas assigned her to. Since they had been at sea for so long the head chef was starting to have to get creative or minimal with his meals, today it was oatmeal. It was something simple, and similar to types of food that she would have cooked when with her Tribe so she actually had a good idea of what she was doing. Of course it helped that all she to do was stir the slop in her pot every so often while setting up the window, and Kai did the same while Thomas looked over a list of the food that was left to plan out the next meal. It didn't take long and within five minutes the food was done. "Go ahead and start pouring the pots into trays to start cooling before the rest of the crew comes down."

Once again it was a simple enough task. As the two started shoveling the thick, hot breakfast into trays Arianna started to let her mind wonder back to her conversation with the pirate captain the night before. It really did seem odd to her that he was out there and she was still curious about whether he had woken up and went outside or couldn't sleep at all. She would've asked him until she got an answer but then she would be obligated to tell him what was keeping her up. She could give him a simple answer but considering how closely he was watching her reactions an undescriptive one might've upset him more than no answer at all, they had been on peaceful terms since the fight that interrupted their training day back on the island and it made her life with the pirates easier. She was deep enough in thought that she didn't realize that she stepped into Kai, who was dumping the last of his oatmeal into a tray. Though it wasn't like there was any force in her step he wasn't paying any attention to her either so when she bumped into him he couldn't stop himself from spilling the hot oatmeal. "Ahh!"

Arianna's cry brought the attention of Thomas to his two workers and he saw that Arianna was on the floor holding her lower legs, which along with her feet were splattered with the food, and Kai kneeling next to her with a discarded pot next to him. "I'm sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry! Ari-chan are you okay? Crap, I'm sorry." Kai apologized frantically.

Now that the surprise of what happened subsided Arianna started to try and calm the man. "No, it's okay. I was the one who stepped into you. I wasn't paying attention."

She started to push herself up off the floor the then Thomas was over her. She looked up at him, expecting the chef to start yelling at her for not paying attention, but instead he picked her up wordlessly and carried her out of the kitchen. In the galley, which was occupied by about eight pirates now, every eye was on her. "Austin, go make sure Kai cleans up the kitchen. Marcus please tell the Captain that I'm taking her to the infirmary." The two men did as the chef told them as everyone else continued to watch as Arianna was carried out of the galley. Marcus rushed ahead of Thomas since he had to go to Law's room while the chef just had to make a straight shot upstairs.

Arianna was certain that she could walk just fine, but the stern silence coming from the already stern man kept her from saying anything. Just as they were making their way into the infirmary, the man sat her down on a bed and finally spoke to her. "Why aren't you wearing shoes?"

"I slept in and was worried that I didn't have time to go to my room before coming to the kitchen."

"You weren't sleeping in your room?" Thomas was giving her a suspicious look now. "Where were you then?"

Not quite understanding his suspicion, Arianna looked back with a naturally innocent expression. "Outside. It was a clear night so I slept on deck."

He continued to stare at her like he was looking for something but he was met with a complete lack of understanding. Suddenly his gaze slightly softened and he placed a hand on her head, rubbing it slightly. Arianna continued to stare back but smiled softly, until she heard footsteps on the other side of the door and looked over to watch as it opened and serious faced Law entered with Marcus at his side. "What happened?"

Thomas moved to Marcus' side, leading Arianna to realize for the first time that they're the same height, and answered for the girl. "Kai spilled hot oatmeal on her."

Law looked her over then nodded towards a door at the far end of the room. "There's a shower behind that door. Wash your feet off with cool water and come back. Thomas-ya and Marcus-ya you two can go back down to breakfast."

They both nodded and left the infirmary as Arianna walked into the little private shower rinsed off her feet and pants. _*My other pair should be dry by now since they got washed last night. I'll change them once we're done here.*_

When she came out of the room Law was sitting waiting for her, so she took the same spot as before and let the doctor examine her feet. "You have some mild burns but they are mostly on the tops of your feet. If you were wearing shoes like you should've been you probably would've gotten away without any. Let me guess. You slept outside and then rushed to the kitchen without bothering to go to your room."

Arianna couldn't help but pout a little at the way this man spoke as if he knew her every move. "If you know what happened then why bother guessing?"

She didn't miss the proud smirk that pulled his expression up. He started trying to put some goo on one of her feet and she couldn't stop it from twitching away from his touch. He must have started to get impatient because he grabbed her ankle and held it firmly in place while he rubbed the medicine in her burns. Since she couldn't avoid the touch anymore she couldn't help the flinch that came to her face in reaction to the stinging, closing her eyes tightly trying to block the feeling out. "Of all the injuries that has happened you, this is what bothers you?"

Law's question brought her attention to the man. He looked entertained and it bothered the hell out of her. "It's just that it's a weird place for me to get hurt. I'm not used to it there."

"That it feels unusually painful on top of your feet is actually because there is no fat or muscle protecting your bones and the nerves trailing along them." Law was using what Arianna like to think of as a doctor tone. Oliver has it too, and so does Nona and Lumie.

After he finished coating her burns in the goo, Law wrapped her feet in a light bandage. "Keep them bandaged for the rest of the day. I'll take them off tomorrow, and decide what to do then. Go to your room and put your shoes on though."

Once again he used his doctor voice, bringing a chuckle to his patient. "Yes sir."

The comment was half mocking but enough of a joke that it apparently didn't bother him, since when he did speak it wasn't about something else. "Are you going to tell me why you were up late last night?"

She wanted to leave the conversation so she said the first thing that came to mind. "Sure. As soon as you tell me what was keeping you up."

Yellow eyes narrowed now. "I'm not allowed to not be able sleep?"

Looking at the shadows under his eyes, she remembered when she was curious about what made them though at this point she was simply used to his appearance. "Same to you."

When he said nothing to this Arianna took it as a sign that he'll drop it for now and she's free to leave so she walked out of the infirmary.

()

After being dismissed by his captain, Marcus went back down to the galley with Thomas. "What a stupid little girl; being in the kitchen without shoes. I should've seen that and sent her out." The older man was mumbling to himself as they made their way down stairs. _*What kind of idiot walks around bare foot in the first place though?* _Marcus didn't bother verbally commenting on Arianna's idiocy though. When they made it to the galley more of the crew had made it in and were in line or sitting and eating. With the chef going into the kitchen, Marcus took his spot in line, it didn't take long for him to get to the food since about a third of the crew weren't even bothering to wake up and come to breakfast anymore. Such people included Connor, Shachi and Penguin.

Marcus sat down at his usual spot, joining Bepo and Oliver who were discussing any signs of the possibility of making it to land soon. "I'm sorry. According to the maps we took from the Marines, we will be sailing for another four days." The navigator bear apologized as if it was somehow his fault that the distance between islands was so big.

"It just can't be helped. I'm just worried we might run out of food before we make it. I'm getting sick of tasteless meals." Marcus told him, letting the thick slop slowly fall off his spoon.

Oliver was quick to hush him in a low voice. "Quiet! If Tom-san or Austin heard you they might get mad."

The warning did make him glance around for any sign of the two. Austin had joined the chef and they were both in the kitchen now, well out of ear shot. They were good cooks but the steadily shortening of supplies was really starting to show, Thomas even declared a no seconds policy for the time being to the dissatisfaction to much of the crew.

"Marcus, how's Ari-chan?" Bepo's gruff voice brought Marcus' attention back to the bear.

"Fine, I'm sure. Captain's the one looking at her." Marcus answered as he finally put a spoonful of the oatmeal in his mouth. *_It's bland.*_

As if hearing herself being talked about, Arianna entered the room and was quick to find her way to the food window then to their table. He watched her walk, checking her head to now covered toe. "Finally put on shoes? What kind of idiot goes around bare foot?" Just because he didn't voice his question to Thomas doesn't mean he won't to the girl herself.

She frowned unhappily at Marcus but then she smirked triumphantly. "Captain for one. I saw him last night on deck and he wasn't wearing shoes."

"Why were you meeting Captain on deck?" Oliver asked.

"I wasn't. It was just a coincidence. He said he couldn't sleep, and I felt like going outside."

"What kind of answer is 'felt like going outside'?" Marcus was not a fan of her roundabout way of explaining.

Before the girl could say anything to the man's question Bepo took the attention of the three people sitting with him by getting up and leaving the table, making a quick exit of the room.

The three watched in silence at the bear's swift retreat from the galley. After a second Marcus decided that Bepo was going to ask the captain why he wasn't able to sleep. Oliver must've too since he also resumed eating quickly, leaving only Arianna to continue looking at the door confused. Oliver must've felt compelled to clarify while Marcus did not, since he explained to her. "Bepo always worries about Captain, especially when it comes to sleep. Captain says he's always had the shadows under his eyes so no one should really give it any thought but Bepo can't help but worry. Though I think it just annoys him."

"Hmm." She hummed in thought then took a bite of oatmeal.

"Why is the oatmeal so bland?" Marcus decided to ask her. She cooked the food, she should know.

She looked at him with the spoon still in her mouth. "What are you talking about? It tastes just how it should."

Oliver started getting a dreamy look in his eyes, "Honey or cinnamon in oatmeal is definitely better."

Arianna perked up at his words then she got the same look. "Oh. Honey is my favorite treat."

They both were in their own little worlds so Marcus decided to just finish his breakfast and go see if one of his other friends were awake yet. As he was walking through the hallway a thought occurred to him. _*I never got an answer about why she went out to the deck.*_

()

Connor was having too pleasant of a dream to willingly wake up. His dream wasn't anything special, it was simply having a peaceful day at sea with the crew with some minor differences, his favorite of which was being able to have Oliver's hand in his publicly. They and all their friends were all on deck playing cards and for whatever reason, even in his dreams he can't beat Penguin.

"Connor…" A voice that was not coming from his dream intruded.

_*Shut up! I'm sleeping!*_

Nope. The voice was not giving up.

"Connor. Seriously, wake up!"

To his displeasure, his dream started to disintegrate and he could see nothing now that his mind could only register the blackness behind his closed eyes. "What do you want?" His voice was entirely groggy and he still wouldn't open his eyes.

"Will you just wake up!? It's already 10:30!" Of course it was Marcus. Who else would go around interrupting everyone else's peaceful sleep?

Connor simply shuffled closer to the wall and deeper into a blanket cocoon. "Who cares? I'm going back to sleep."

Marcus started trying to pull at his blankets now. "You can't just spend the whole day lazing around in bed."

Connor pulled back. "No. _You _can't spend the whole day lazing around in bed. I can just fine."

For a second he stopped pulling Connor's blanket, but then one firm yank stripped the cloth off of him. "Hey! What the hell?!"

Marcus looked back with a completely stern face. "Good you're up. Don't forget today is laundry day for our room's blankets and sheets." That was he said before he dropped the warm blanket on the cold floor and walked out of the room with his own blankets.

With his warm nest already destroyed Connor decided it wasn't worth it to try staying in bed. Besides, chances are Marcus would come back.

Sitting up, he took a few minutes to rub his face and neck and slowly stretched out his limbs. He was always slow to wake up; the only time he can ever get up quickly is if there's an emergency or if Oliver is waking him up. Then again Oliver is brutal when it comes to getting him out of bed, usually kicking him onto the floor and if that doesn't work he gets cold water in the face.

Groaning, he finally stood and giving his whole body one more good stretch, he put on a t-shirt and his boiler suit just zipping and tying it at his waist rather than wearing it over his whole body then dropped his short trident like mace through a belt loop. Not wanting to deal with Marcus pestering him about the laundry, Connor yanked everything off his bed and grabbed the blanket off the floor and carried it down the hall to the laundry room next to the bathroom. The machines were all already running, _*Friggin' morning people.* _He complained mentally and dropped his load into a bin to be cleaned later.

After backtracking into the bathroom, he tried to make his way upstairs to the deck. It was close to 11 so that should be the first place to check for anyone. But before he got far Shachi and Penguin shuffled towards him still half-asleep, they definitely stayed up late and were probably among the list of people that were being forced awake. "Marcus?" He asked referring to whoever woke them.

Shachi yawned. "Yeah."

As they passed him Penguin mumbled. "Don't forget to check your station."

In the crews little hierarchy Penguin was directly above Connor as the head mechanic, which means it wasn't a choice to "forget" to do so. Though he really didn't want to, Connor called back a reply. "Yeah, yeah. I'll go now."

Now moving down instead of up, Connor went into the engine room and checked the gauges and inspected the bolts for the engine cooler that he was in charge of. With everything working properly and requiring no maintenance the mechanic finally started his climb back upstairs and outside. Sure enough Oliver, Marcus, Shachi and Arianna were among the people on deck. He found it funny that even though everyone on the crew were friends, supposedly, it was usually the same groups of people who would collect together to hang out and pass the time. He was certain that once Penguin was done with his engine check the man will come up and go directly to his spot among their group. The thought tempted him to find someone in the crew who wasn't in that group to talk to, but he made his way to his regular friends anyways. "Morning." He announce with a yawn, apparently he was still sleepy.

"Barely." Marcus replied.

"If you're going to give me crap about sleeping in then you should for Shachi and Penguin too."

"Hey! Don't drag me down with you." Shachi spat back.

Connor could hear the only female voice giggle at the interaction. He knew she was always awake early. _*Friggin' morning person.* _He thought. "So Half-Pint, did you manage to get through the morning without getting in trouble with Tom-san or Captain?"

She almost never could so he knew it would stop her, and it worked. She stopped giggling and looked away with a slightly pink shade to her cheeks. Oliver piped up for the first time since Connor got there. "Kai accidently burned her feet in the kitchen."

A small impulse of worry sparked through him but then he calmed, she was sitting just fine and didn't seem to be in any pain or even bothered by an injury. "How'd that happen?" Shachi asked with a layer of panic in his voice.

The two medics who were present at the accident stared at her with flat expressions. However it happened, it was definitely because of something stupid she did. "How is not important. Besides I'm fine."

"Sure..." Connor was extra curious now. He'd have to ask when they were without the girl.

Just at that moment Penguin appeared out of nowhere and practically tackled the already sitting Connor in his bid to make an entrance. "Hey! What're we talking about?"

"Nothing. You pick a topic." Arianna was quick to prevent the conversation from going back to her.

"Um… How about how starving I am?" The head mechanic said.

"Same." Shachi and Connor both chimed in.

Marcus made an annoyed face. "Then you should've woken up for breakfast."

Oliver and Arianna nodded in agreement. Connor couldn't help but mutter, annoyed. "Friggin' morning people."

Oliver started to laugh at the comment, while Marcus smirked and Arianna tried to hold in a laugh of her own. It truly seemed that the only ones on his side of things were the two other people who slept in and missed breakfast too.

"Hmm. Now that I think about it, lunch will be in about an hour. At least you won't have to wait long." Oliver was trying to be helpful now that he was done laughing.

_*How to pass the time?* _Remembering his dream, Connor made a suggestion. "How about we play cards until lunch?"

Penguin had a big smile on his face. He loved cards, mostly because he was great at it. "Sounds perfect!"

Then with a general agreement from the group the hat wearing mechanic ran down to his room and, faster than ever and returned with a deck of cards and a bag of poker chips. "Five card stud?" Shachi asks the group.

It wasn't really a choice since that was the only game they had been able to teach Arianna since she revealed that she had never played poker. With the chips all distributed Penguin began dealing cards. The game was fun, though like always Penguin was winning. _*There's no way he isn't cheating.* _Connor thought to himself like he does every time they play. He wasn't sure that the man wasn't cheating but he had never been able to prove that he was. The girl was getting better since the first time she played, though if she was watched closely enough her expression would still give away whether she had a good hand or not.

During the game, to everyone's surprise, Austin came over to them and told Arianna that she didn't have to come in for lunch duty. The news seemed to brighten her already good mood and she lost all ability to hold any shred of a poker face, making her so easy to read that everyone could play according to her face and she instantly lost all of her chips. The hour passed quickly and someone from the kitchen came up and called everyone to come eat, much to Connor's pleasure.

()

After hearing of his captain's difficulty sleeping the night before Bepo had indeed rushed to find him and talk to him. He was well aware of the fact that Law did not like the bear pestering him about his sleeping habits, but he also knew that the man appreciated the concern on some level since he would never allow it to continue otherwise. Law insisted that he was simply restless and that was what kept him up late, but he slept just fine.

Once the captain had calmed the bear's worry they both went down to get Law his breakfast from Thomas, since he had missed the meal because he had to treat Arianna then deal with a worried first mate. The galley had been cleaned out but the chef was always aware of who had eaten and since he had a good read on who wakes up for breakfast after a long time at sea and who doesn't, he had a talent for making just enough food for everyone and knew to set aside a meal for the people who were coming but got held up by something, such as Law.

Much to Bepo's pleasure he had also set aside the bear's half-eaten bowl after it had been abandoned, so the two sat down to eat together in peace. After the meal they discussed the food supply with Thomas and the three came to the conclusion that they were running out too quickly. Marcus may have been half-kidding when he said he was worried they didn't have enough food for the rest of the time they were expected to be sailing to the next island, but it turns out that he wasn't far off. Depending on how minimal the kitchen crew can use their stock for each meal, they may or may not have enough to make it. While a day or two without food wouldn't kill anyone, it certainly did not make for a happy crew. Plus they were pirates in the Grand Line. Any number of dangers could come to them and it was important that they all be at full strength.

With the conclusion made and no clear solution for their current predicament Law and Bepo left and went up to the smaller deck that was usually empty to take a break and think further on their situation. Even after making it outside he was still fairly hot, so the polar bear unzipped his boiler suit and removed it from his upper body so that it hung off of him and otherwise looked like pants. He was a bear sure, but he still couldn't help the odd sense of modesty that usually only existed in humans that drove them to wear clothes no matter the heat.

Now that his fur was free in the breeze he was beginning to feel much cooler, and the sudden desire to lie down and relax into a nap came to him. Almost as soon as he was sprawled on the floor his captain was on the floor too and propped up against him, probably settling in for a nap himself. It pleased Bepo to no end. He knew his captain didn't have the easiest time sleeping, so the fact that he seemed to fall asleep quickly when using the bear's plush body as a pillow gave him a sense of usefulness that always left a warm feeling in him. Without realizing it, Bepo began to hum and chuff happily while he tried to come up with a solution to their problem in the back of his mind. When he finally noticed the noise he was producing he stopped only for Law, who apparently wasn't asleep, to speak up. "I've told you before. It doesn't bother me when you do that."

Bepo was suddenly embarrassed and did his best to not stammer. "But it has to be harder to sleep with such a loud noise."

"It's more like white noise to me. Unlike the noises from everyone down there." It was hard not to hear the crew members who were on the larger deck, all talking and collectively they were very loud to Bepo. It seemed Law could hear them too.

"Who's going to tell them about our food supply problem?" Bepo asked uneasy.

"No one. We'll try fishing." The solution the captain came up with was the sweetest of music to Bepo. Fish was easily his favorite food.

With Law having provided a solution to their current problem the bear easily fell asleep on the floor. After who knows how long he was starting to feel uncomfortable and when the sound of Law's voice calling his name made it to his mind he woke up. He hadn't realized it but the uncomfortable feeling that was slowly coming over him was the feeling of being baked under the sun that had reached the peak of the sky and was also heating up the metal ship. Once he was fully awake the two retreated into the ship and with nothing to do Law decided that they might as well go to the galley and speak to Thomas about the thought of fishing and wait for lunch since it had to be soon. _*Thank goodness Captain woke up. That could've been really bad.* _Bepo thought to himself as they walked in the ship that felt very cool in comparison now.

Apparently, lunch was not _soon. _Lunch was _now_. When they entered the galley there was already a line for food so the duo stood at the end.

"Looking good Bepo!" One of the men on the crew, Clyde, jeered making him feel somewhat uncomfortable about the fact that his suit was still pulled down to his waist, exposing his furry body. Embarrassed, he fumbled to pull it back over himself. Law said nothing, he never did. He knew that Law disliked the people bullying him and would threaten anyone who wasn't a Heart Pirate, but he would never defend the bear from the jokes of the crew. Bepo wasn't sure why, and an easily dismissed part of him worried it was because his captain agreed. The rest of him was certain there was a reason that was for Law to know and Bepo to learn to understand on his own. Either way, he felt uncomfortable now and his eyes darted around uncertainly, catching sight of Arianna and Marcus sitting at the table their group usually used, both were glaring at Clyde obviously having heard his words. He couldn't help it when he shuffled through the line with his head down slightly. "Go eat without me. I'm going to talk to Thomas-ya." Law told him.

"Okay." He said and scurried over to sit with his friends.

When he sat down Arianna immediately scolded him. "Why did you let him get away with mocking you like that?"

Everyone else who wasn't Marcus looked at her questioningly. They must've not heard Clyde. Bepo shifted uncomfortably, "It's not a big deal, and he was only joking after all."

Marcus sighed. "What kind of first mate gets mocked and bullied by the crew?"

"I'm sorry." His depression hit him deeply.

"Stop that!" Shachi and Penguin both all but shouted.

"It kind of bothers me that Captain doesn't say anything about it though." Oliver commented quietly.

"He's the captain. He can't play favorites after all." Bepo tried to rationalize it to them, even if he wasn't certain himself.

Everyone was quiet and Bepo felt certain that they were trying to accept this possible explanation, but doubted they did. To his great relief the alarm went off throughout the ship, alerting everyone of danger. Immediately after Jean Bart, who Bepo only now realized was skipping lunch to keep look out thankfully, spoke over the communication pipe system that the two navigators used to communicate with the crew in emergencies. "We have a Sea King out here!"

At that, some of the crew rushed on deck. It wasn't to defend the ship, though they will if needed. It was to watch the display that they knew was coming. Once on deck the group looked at the Sea King in interest. It was large like all Sea Kings, though this one in particular was incredibly serpent-like, looking no different from a giant snake with the exception of a crown of sharp but somehow also frail looking spines that kind of reminded Bepo of a lion fish, and it had a solid dark gray color along its spine that faded to white towards it belly.

"What do you think Bepo?" Law asked thoughtfully.

"Looks yummy." He answered honestly.

At that Law opened a Room and effortlessly cut the Sea King over and over until it was in small pieces. Once his cutting was done the captain used his Shambles command to pile all of it on deck. He then turned to Thomas who also came up as well, to Bepo's surprise. "Our food supply problem has been solved."

Thomas roared a laugh and agreed heartedly, before turning to Arianna, who was the only member of the kitchen staff to come to deck, and instructed her. "Start carrying this into the freezers in the storage rooms. I'll send the rest of our worker up to get started too."

She nodded, surprisingly obedient considering how angry she had been getting the chef before.

Law sheathed his sword and rested it against his shoulder then told all of the men on deck that they needed to help too, before walking inside empty-handed other than his nodachi. Bepo didn't mind, though he was vaguely aware of the fact that some of the men were complaining, because all he can think about was the fact that he gets to eat fish for a long time now.

Even with the kitchen workers and spectators of the kill all carrying the Sea King meat in it still took a while to get everything packed in the freezers, then get an estimate of how much they had. It took several hours in fact and just before everything was brought in it even started to rain. By the time Bepo and Thomas had finished recording the weight of how much meat they brought in it was time for the chef to start getting prepared for his dinner shift. Bepo took the stock report up to Law's room and decided to take it easy and relax there until dinner.

()

She was walking through a forest. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew that she was going in the right direction, somehow. _*Weird. I've been here before.* _She realized. As she looked at the branches and trunks around her, Arianna did her best to place were she was. The sights and smells she was picking up touched a distant memory. Wherever she was, it had been a long time since she had seen it.

"GAHHHHH!" The loud piercing scream stopped her in her tracks for just half a second, then she sprinted as fast as she could in its direction. The more she ran the louder the scream was and the more voices she heard add in to it. She ran as quickly as she could but when the smell of blood slammed into her all at once like she ran into a wall she stopped. She knew exactly where she was, and she knew what was waiting for her at the heart of those screams.

Arianna crouched and curled herself into a ball, pushing her hands over her ears and closed her eyes, trying to block out what was happening. But nothing she did mattered, suddenly the screams and blood smell were not in the distance but instead all around her. She pushed her hands harder against her ears and squeezed her eyes tighter, pleading. "Please go away. Don't make me see this. Please go away."

"Anna-chan." A young voice called out to her perfectly clear, as all the other sounds of this horror world ceased.

When she looked up, she saw a girl wearing a bright blue dress and long black hair that fell half-way down her forearms, with her left one coated in blood coming out of her upper arm. She looked into the dark and emotionless ocean blue eyes of the girl she knew well as it began to rain. Arianna was suddenly aware of what she already knew would be there; dead bodies littered the ground around the two girls. Feeling a raindrop fall to her hand, she looked down at it and saw a crimson droplet pool on her skin. Looking at the grass and dirt around her, she saw that everything was slowly being stained red. _*Raining blood.* _She thought coldly to herself as she looked back to the little girl who stood before her, true terror in her eyes. _*No. Not a little girl. An eleven-year old Raven.* _

"Raven. Please help me." Her voice was pathetic and pleading, full of terror.

Raven slowly shook her head side to side. "Why would I help you?"

"You've done enough." The young voice of a boy spoke from behind her.

When Arianna turned to look at him, she saw the same empty expression that Raven had. The fourteen year old Ike looked at her with unfeeling red eyes and his dark brown hair was getting plastered to his head from the blood-rain. Her eyes froze on the blood flowing out of long gashes that ran across his left cheek and down on his collar bone. "You've done enough."

When Ike spoke his words again they began repeating in rushed whispers that came from everywhere and nowhere. Arianna couldn't contain her fear any longer and a terrified scream escaped her.

It was a scream apparently loud enough to wake her from her nightmare, as the next thing Arianna was aware of was that she was sitting up in her bed on the sub, soaked in sweat and panting. She wrapped her arms around her body to try and stop the tremors that the fear left behind but they didn't seem to want to stop anytime soon. She took a quick glance around her room and was relieve that no one was there. She knew that she was screaming for real if she was to trust her painful and scratchy throat.

She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, burying her face. "Crap... Another nightmare." Taking deep breaths, she went back to trying her best at calming herself. After what she was certain was a long time, her mind was clear enough for her to think and take in her state. All of her sweat had dried and she smelled horribly, her only consolation was that she hadn't worn anything to sleep in. In general it's not the smartest thing to do, especially on a ship full of men, but she doesn't have anything to wear just to sleep and she didn't want her dirty clothes on her bed. She looked at the small clock on her wall. *_4:12_ _Ugh. That's early even for me.* _

Considering the time, she concluded it's safe to go shower. Putting on her dirty clothes from the day before, she walked down to the showers and washed off the stench from her body and her clothes as well. Once she was done she changed into her clean clothes, the green shirt and one of her jean pants, she silently walked back to her bed room to hang up her now wet but clean clothes. While there she dug through her trunk and put on her shoes and pulled out her bear fur, hugging it closely to her body. Remembering that they had once again stayed surfaced for the night, Arianna went upstairs and found that the rain that prevented her from sleeping on deck had stopped.

Walking to the far railing, she swiped some excess water off of a spot on the floor and sat down with her legs dangling off the deck, ignoring the new wetness the seeped into her clothes. Pulling the fur closer to her face she inhaled deeply. The smell that was once there to remind her of her Family had long faded, but the act was still comforting. Breathing it in again she let herself fall backwards onto the deck floor and stared at the now clear night sky through half-lidded eyes. Closing her eyes again her mind drifted back to her dream, to the blood and pain that invaded what was supposed to be her time of rest and peace. _*No. I've simply been lucky lately. The fact that that my nightmares had only started coming back these past few days since coming on the ship is nothing less than a miracle.* _The thought only served to further sadden her. That was not going to be her last nightmare and she will have to get used to having them once again.

* * *

**Yay all done! Next chapter is a new island too, so double yay :) I'll try and get my next chapter out a bit faster but no promises. Until then comments, criticisms, and corrections all make me smile so please do it :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**The start of a new island, yay! From now on I will be keeping progress notice on my profile page in between chapters so feel free to check that if it seems I'm taking a while, it will hopefully give some kind of idea of where I'm at writing-wise.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own One Piece or those characters. They belong to Oda Eiichiro**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

The sight of land was the most beautiful thing the Heart Pirates had seen in what felt like years. Three straight weeks at sea left every member of the crew sick of the ocean and ready to have solid land beneath their feet. Arianna in particular was ready to take in the feeling of ground and the scent of nature, all this time on an entirely man-made vessel was seriously starting to make her depressed.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" She whined childishly.

"We'll get there within the next hour, so calm down." Marcus chided.

She sank down, half of her body dangling over the railing, "We've been on this floating machine for so many weeks. I just want to feel grass beneath my feet not cold, heartless metal." She continued her whining tone.

"Hey!" She looked up to see Penguin. "This submarine is a masterpiece. Don't talk about her like she's a simple ship." Of course the lead mechanic was offended.

"Defend the ship all you want, nothing beats the feeling of grass underfoot." Nothing the mechanic could say would ever change her mind on that. The thought and excitement at being on land again was starting to make Arianna tremble.

Marcus put both hands on her shoulders in an attempt to stop her, "Jeez, calm down kid. You're practically vibrating."

She looked at him with a frown, then back at the island in the distance. She stood up with a sigh then started to walk back into the ship. "Where're you going?" Penguin asked.

"Sitting out here and watching the island until we get there will be torture. I'm going to take a nap or something inside to pass the time."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. You've been looking tired lately." Marcus said to the retreating girl, though he was thankfully looking at the island and had not seen the way she slightly stiffened in her step.

Once inside she made a hasty trail to her room and fell onto her bed rather than crawling in. Rolling with her blanket until it was wrapped around her then closed her eyes until she fell asleep.

…

It was the sound of banging on the door brought her mind back to being awake. It was a short nap since they were in sight of their destination, which also meant no time to dream. She tried to get up but the way she was wrapped in her blanket was making it impossible, and when she heard the banging on the door again she groaned and again tried to wriggle her way out of the fabric making her look like a panicked worm. Arianna turned her head at the sound of the door opening and saw Law walking in with an annoyed look on his face. But that look disappeared and he stared at her like he wasn't sure how to react to what was before him. "What? Why are-?"

"Help?" Arianna asked pathetically.

Without another word he walked up to her and yanked the blanket, effectively releasing the girl who fell to the floor. "Thanks."

Law tossed the blanket onto the bed and started leaving the room. "We've reached the island. Get on deck, and you won't need to hunt this time since we have plenty of meat from the Sea King."

"Yeah, okay." Turning herself over to get back on her feet, she took her bag and put her hunting clothes in it just in case she gets the chance to go for herself then changed into her old boots, put on her tomahawk and knife and went back to the deck. When she stepped outside a strong smell hit her. Whatever kind of island they were at she could already categorize it as having a dirty town. Apparently everyone had already been given there orders before she made it there, she could already see groups of white suits shuffling into the town, in one of them she saw a dark grey shirt and fuzzy hat. *_Law's going on the supply run?* _Arianna was surprised, she hadn't thought the captain would ever take part in such simple tasks like a supply run. "Ari-chan, are you ready to go?"

She turned to give Shachi a confused look, "Where are we going?"

"Shopping for you. You can't spend the rest of your life in those two outfits. Captain gave us some money to take you." Penguin, who was leaning on his friend's shoulder, answered.

"Yeah? Great! I'm getting sick of washing my clothes every night." She was excited. It had been a long time since she replaced her clothes.

Arianna bounded happily after the two men down the plank of the ship and onto the dock. The tall buildings looked to be made of cut stones as were the paths and streets rather than leaving it as dirt. "Ari-chan, you need to get up on the sidewalk." Penguin told her, tugging at her hand to guide her over to a slightly elevated and incredibly crowded stone walk-way close to the buildings. "Does it matter?" she asked.

Penguin let go of her when then were up on the sidewalk and both men looked at her with an adult air to them. "Yeah. People ride horses and cart on the streets, you could get hit."

Penguin turned to start walking along with the moving crowd deeper into the town while giving her an order. "Don't get separated."

They both started walking and missed the slight frown that came to their companion's face. *_Right. I need a baby-sitter everywhere I go. No wonder Law didn't just give me the money himself and tell me to go buy clothes.* _

She followed the two men silently and they didn't seem to even remember that she was trailing behind them, they were too engrossed in their conversation. "Where do you think it is? This town has to have one right?" Penguin asked.

"It better. After this long at sea I need a trip." Shachi said with what kind of sounded like desperation.

"How are we going to convince Captain to give us a big enough island allowance for a trip and booze?"

"We better think of something! Maybe we could ask if they are willing to give some kinda deal? 'Bring this many costumers and you get this much discounted.'"

"Umm." Arianna interrupted them to get their attention onto her. "If you guys are planning a trip somewhere I'd be happy to come."

They both looked at her with intensely shocked expressions, obscured eyes probably bulging out and jaws practically to the ground. "NO! YOU DEFINITELY CAN'T COME!" They both said, utterly adamant.

She clasped her hands behind her and tilted her head slightly to the right, then put on her best 'innocently curious' expression. They were always telling her she was a cute girl, so shouldn't she use it to her advantage? "Why not?"

They looked like they were at a loss for words. They wanted to give the girl what she wanted but they absolutely couldn't. Shachi did his best to calm his panic and, putting both hands on her shoulders, he looked her in the eyes from behind his sunglasses and with a dead serious expression he told her "You can't come because we are planning a trip to a whore house."

She looked at him for a second with an unchanging expression as her mind tried to process what he was saying, until… "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?! WHO PLANS SUCH THINGS WITH THEIR FRIENDS?!" She was more than shocked, she was embarrassed. She _asked_ to come along, the fact that she didn't know where to doesn't change that. Nor does it change the fact that her yelling was attracting the attention of others in the crowd.

"We do." Once again both were dead serious in their answer.

"I'm going back to the ship." She said as she tried to make a retreat.

"No." Penguin said and she felt a hand grab her shoulder to stop her, though she couldn't bring herself to look at them and see whose hand it was.

"Come on. We didn't convince Captain to let us take you shopping just for you to go back to the ship before we make it to a single store." Shachi added.

This caught her attention. "You asked to take me? Captain didn't ask you to?"

A smile came up under a green and pink cap, "Nope. As far as I know Captain was just going to let you go by yourself."

"…And why did you take that away from me?" The medic's words were building a new anger in Arianna.

"If we went on the supply run like normal we would have been in charge of our groups and we wouldn't be able to look around for a who-" Shachi couldn't finish his sentence because the girl had shoved her hand over his mouth. She got the idea, it didn't need to be voiced.

There was nothing left to be said about the situation. Nothing that wouldn't make her feel more uncomfortable anyways, so she sighed and made a simple request. "Can we just get on with this?"

"Please." Penguin was just as quick to attempt to move past the conversation, and the three continued their walk into town.

()

With Shachi and Penguin taking Arianna shopping Law decided to lead the medic team's supply run. The two hadn't really explained why they suddenly wanted to take the girl out but the captain could come up with some guesses, none of which were good for his mind to stay on for longer than it took to form. He wasn't worried about their behavior towards the girl, their lecherous impulses didn't seem to extend to Arianna. Law knew that she simply wasn't their type. Thinking about her appearance honestly, Law decided that she was smallish though despite the jokes about her being childlike she didn't actually resemble a child. She was simply better described as cute rather than pretty, with a personality to match. The perverted pair on the other hand… They preferred their women to be more alluring in appearance and easy to convince that it would be a great idea to have sex with a complete stranger. *_Simply put, they prefer whores.* _Law thought with slight irritation. Those two probably spend at least half of the money they are given at each island on women.

"Captain?" Marcus interrupted Law's thoughts. Apparently his annoyance with Shachi and Penguin's bad habit, as he settled to call it a long time ago, was showing on his face.

"I think Shachi and Penguin are planning something." He said unhappily.

Marcus' expression took on a hint of dread. "Let's just hope they don't get us involved this time."

"If we pretend to not know what's happening we'll be safe." Law said, vaguely hopeful.

Marcus apparently could only chuckle nervously.

"Captain, this seems to be an apothecary." Oliver called out from the front of the group.

The building looked like it was focused on herbs and holistic forms of medicine. While they usually didn't carry the types of supplies that Law looked for, he wasn't above using herbs and such as alternatives. "Let's go in then." He said simply.

There was a small chime from the door when he led the group in. "Welcome." An old woman in a dull colored brown and green dress and a large amber pendent from behind the counter said. Law handed her a paper "Do you carry any of the items on this list?"

Taking a minute to look it over "We have some medicines in stock that achieve the same effect as three of these drugs, but I know of other shops that do carry what I don't. Would you like me to give you the information?"

"Yes, please." Pirate or not, there was no reason for Law to not be respectful to this old woman, especially since she was being helpful.

"Just give me a moment then." She pulled three pieces of paper out from the counter and began listing what could be found and where from the original list. She handed it to Law when she was done who in turn handed them off to other members of his group along with most of the money with him. "Split up and get all of these. Marcus, stay with me." He ordered.

With all but two of the pirates cleared out the elderly woman went about gathering what Law would be taking from her, collecting various jars and measuring their contents out and pouring them in other jars. As she was doing her work behind the counter Law's attention was brought to her pendent, he realized that within the amber was a flower. He seen it before and wondered idly if it had some type of medicinal property and that's why the apothecary was wearing it.

"It's a violet."

"Hm?" The woman's voice broke his train of thought.

She simply smiled calmly in the way old ladies that lived a fulfilled life do. "The flower in my amber. It's a violet flower. It comes from a type of flower that covered this island when I was young, though most were destroyed when this city was built."

Marcus and Law both stared at her, uncertain if they should bother saying anything.

"Ah. Listen to me. I'm sorry. You didn't come here to listen to an old woman's rambling. Here's your order. I labeled the jars with what's in them and here's a list of instructions on how to dose them and what they do." She slid a smallish crate to their side of the counter with the instructions on top.

With Marcus carrying the crate the two leisurely made their way back to the sub.

()

As expected, as soon as Arianna, Shachi and Penguin found a shopping area in the town the two boys gave her the money Law had given them for her and basically ditched the girl. Honestly, Arianna was happy at not having to deal with the two men, considering their constant need to give their opinion on anything involving her they would have likely been unwanted critiques to every piece of clothing she picks. Plus now she can buy underwear without them standing behind her and seeing every piece.

She decided underwear than sleepwear were to be her top priority, so after getting what she deemed enough she moved through the stores to find cheap clothes. She honestly didn't care much for Worlder clothes nor was she given much money considering she was supposed to buy an entire wardrobes worth, about 21,000 beri, so the whole shopping part of the trip only lasted about 30 minutes, after which she began trying to track down the two fools who were supposed to be with her to begin with. The city and all the people in it was too overwhelming to her senses to attempt tracking them like she would prey and the Hunter's Sense would be too overloaded if she opened it to the presences around her to find them. *_That reminds me, Law should be close to starting that portion of the Sense training soon.* _The pirate captain made a point to get her to a training room with him for sparring a few times a week, though they can't really go all out inside the ship.

She can't exactly go back to the ship without them, Law might get angry at them or her, and she didn't want anyone to get in to trouble. So here she was wandering the streets to find two specific men in a sea of people while carrying two paper and her leather bag full of clothes. After what had definitely been at least 35 minutes of walking around in search of them she still hadn't seen a sign of them anywhere and Arianna was beginning to feel frustrated. Then seemingly out of nowhere she heard a loud and deep bell noise, causing her to look up at the buildings around her but then the one in front of her had a sign that caught her attention. It showed "Water Fashion". *_Why does that look familiar?*_ She thought then looked down at one of the bags in her hand, it showed the same thing. *_I've been walking in circles.* _She thought horrified. *_I can never let Law know I got so lost like this! I'll never be left alone on an island again!*_

Taking a deep breath of the dirty air she decided to do the only thing she can think of that will hopefully allow her to maintain some form of self-sufficiency in the pirate captain's view, ask for directions to the dock and go to the ship alone. *_If those two get in trouble, they get in trouble.*_

With the decision made she stopped the first person she could and asked for him to point her in the direction she needed. When he pointed her south she thanked him and went on her way, careful to stay on the sidewalk. Arianna tried to stay focused on walking straight and she did succeed for a decent while, until her ears picked up on something that wasn't the various sounds of footsteps or talking, it was a sort of metallic yet pleasant sound. She looked around for its source without success but she could figure the direction it was coming from. It was off in a different direction from the ship and she nearly considered continuing to the dock but her curiosity won out and she abandoned her current route to find the source of the noise. It didn't take long to find, just a few turns and walking past a handful of buildings. It was a beautiful woman with long, thick black hair, tan skin wearing a long purple skirt that fell to the ground and a top that really only covered her chest and shoulders; her whole body was adorned in small metal pieces and she was dancing with a round object in one hand about the size of her face with small gold circles around it making the musical sound. The woman was spinning, jumping, stomping and shifting her whole body in an incredible dance all the while hitting and shaking the circle rhythmically to create a wonderful noise for her body to move to. For whatever reason everyone else walking the streets were just passing her by, not giving her any mind, she was easily the most beautiful Worlder Arianna had ever seen and her dancing was enchanting to the out of place huntress.

The dancing woman stopped her movements with well-practiced precision and held her body with her left hand holding its place over the canvas stretched over the circle after its last strike and her body was turned so her right hip was out towards where an audience should be. At the performance's end Arianna applauded with absolute delight and an amazed smile that lit up her whole face and eyes. The woman looked at her single audience member and seemed to be shocked that she was there, but then her expression shifted into a coy smile. "You know, usually when you enjoy a street performance it's customary to put money in the bowl."

Arianna looked down and noticed an empty bowl for the first time. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realized." She reached into her pocket and pulled out what was left of her money, 2400 beri.

The dance stared in shock at the 2400 beri bill causing Arianna to worry. "Sorry if that's not as much as I'm supposed to give, it's all I have. I wasn't given much and I was told to buy a bunch of clothes since the captain is sick of me only having two outfits to wear." She rushed out the excessive information in embarrassment.

The shock still didn't leave the woman's face. "No, just the opposite. That's a lot more than traditionally given."

"Oh, well... You earned it, that dance was beautiful. Besides it not like I can buy anything with that and I can't tear the bills in half and they'll be worth half." She said with a laugh.

The dancer laughed heartedly than smiled beautifully at Arianna. "My name is Aishe."

"Arianna." She said, returning the smile.

"Well, Arianna seeing as you're by far my best audience how about I teach you some steps?"

Her green eyes lit up brighter than before. "Really?! That sounds like some a ton of fun!"

Aishe had smooth brown eyes that softened at the girl's excitement. "Great. Let's start with something simple. I'll go slowly so just follow my movements, okay?"

Arianna repeatedly nodded excitedly and scurried over to place her bags down at the wall behind Aishe than stood a foot in front of her so she could see all of the dancer's movements. As Aishe said the movements she was showing Arianna were simple enough and the girl had little trouble imitating them. After Arianna mastered a short series of steps and was putting them all together fluidly the two new friends decided to take a rest against the wall.

"You're a fast learner Arianna. Do you ever dance?" Aishe praised.

"Uh… I used to sometimes at parties with my Family. We celebrate things like lunar cycles and seasonal equinoxes with big bonfire parties. The dances we do are actually kind of similar to your dancing."

A loud bell noise went off again, causing Arianna to look around, then she heard Aishe giggle. "It's the clock tower. It rings every hour."

_*Every hour, huh?* _Thinking about it that was the second time she's heard it since leaving the ship. "I should probably get going. The captain might start to wonder where I am if I'm not back soon."

Aishe looked at her with curiosity, "Captain? Now that I think about it, you said captain before too. Are you a pirate by any chance?"

Arianna opened her mouth to say… What exactly was she going to say? Is she a pirate? Despite Law's words and her traveling with the Heart Pirates she never once actually considered herself a pirate. *_This is only a temporary arrangement, sure. But does it still count?*_

Aishe seemed to misunderstand her inner dilemma, as she offered a reassuring thought, "If you are it really wouldn't bother me you know. I actually somewhat admire the pirate lifestyle."

"Yeah. I suppose it is a good way to live your life. Sailing all over and doing whatever you want. But it isn't my first choice of a life. It's enough like my life with my Family that I can stand it, but I'm not a fan of the way Law seems to take pleasure in causing mayhem. And since he's in charge he gets to do whatever he wants and everyone follows his lead without thought. And worse yet I get treated like a child all the time." She couldn't help but end her statement with a pout.

Aishe laughed, utterly entertain at the girls rant. "Alright. I suppose you best be going then. He doesn't sound like a good man to make mad."

"Um-hm." She hummed as she gathered her bags and took a step away from her new friend before turning back and sheepishly asking, "How do I get back to the docks from here?"

The dancer stared wide-eyed for a second but then chuckled and told her. "If you take the first left down that direction and follow that road you'll reach its end with the docks in sight."

Arianna clasped her hands together as a thank you and called back as she walked away. "I'll try to come back later today, okay?"

"Okay. But if it's past four I won't be here." She warned.

"I'll do my best to be here before then. Bye Aishe!"

()

Law waited impatiently on deck for the only remaining members of crew to make it back: Penguin, Shachi and Arianna. Everyone else had already come back with all their supplies and left to have fun on the island. Law was clear with the two men, they needed check in with him before running wild in town. So the sight of Arianna walking down the dock to the ship alone was more than upsetting.

"Where are the other two?" He demanded angrily.

She looked a bit surprised. "They're not back yet?"

"How did you get separated from them?"

Something about the question seemed to upset her because she frowned and answered rather curtly. "I didn't get separated. They ditched me."

Law couldn't help growl and murmur. "I knew they'd pull something like this."

"Then why let them go with me instead of with their work groups?"

He was a bit surprised that she heard his comment, it was quiet and just to himself, but didn't dwell on it. Knowing the more he thought about the two pirates the angrier he'd get, Law decided to take in what was in her hands. It wasn't a lot. "Do you have any money left?"

"No. I didn't have much left after I bought this so I gave it to a street performer." She said plainly.

This greatly shocked Law and he knew it showed on his face. "I didn't take you for someone who buy with expensive taste. How did you go through 33000 beri and come out with just that?"

"33000 beri?"

_*Why is she saying that like a question?*_

Suddenly a rare show of pure anger washed over the girl. "THOSE JERKS SHORTED ME 1000 BERI!"

_*Shachi and Penguin kept money for Arianna-ya for themselves?* _There was a lot Law would allow between the members of his crew, he was their captain not their babysitter, but stealing money was not one. He felt a cold anger come over him. His lead mechanic and medic may have been Heart Pirates almost as long as Bepo but they were not exempt from his rules or anger.

"Arianna-ya. Go inside and leave your things. You can go explore the island for the rest of the day, just come back before morning." Law's voice was icy despite the ones he's angry at not being there.

"Uh, sure. Thank you." She said, looking more surprised than anything, and scurried into the ship.

She came back out, still wearing her personal bag though it was definitely smaller from having items removed, and as she walked down the ramp she told him, "I'll see later Captain."

Law didn't acknowledge her words, he was too busy planning his punishment for Shachi and Penguin. *_Simply taking the cleaning shifts for the next week isn't going to be enough. They know better than to cheat money from a new crew member. They definitely are forbidden from leaving the ship the second they step foot back on. Depending on how long we stay here, I might keep them on the ship at the next island too.*_

And of course his mind also wandered to the fun little experiments they just volunteered themselves for with this. Law usually experiments with surgeries and his powers on captured pirates or Marines, but if one of his own screwed up bad enough, like now, they would get be the testing dummy for some of the less potentially lethal experiments.

There was a loud bell sound again and counted now three hours of Shachi and Penguin running around, doing whatever they want when they were supposed to be with Arianna. Finally Law caught sight of two very recognizable hats with very recognizable boiler suits. It's good that they came back, the longer they were gone the worst it would be for them.

As they walked up the ramp their expression changed from those of carefree joy to utter terror, marking the moment they saw the dark, merciless smile on their captain's face. "Welcome back. I've been waiting for you two."

They had nothing to say except for screams of horror that was sweet music to Law.

* * *

**I'm sorry it's not that long, especially considering how long you had to wait to get it. I spent extra time planning the whole arc so I don't write myself into a corner like last time, and life has kind of been getting in the way :/**

**(Looking at work building) Stupid job. Leave me alone! (****￣皿￣****)****凸**

**Yay Comments (´****｡****• ****ω •****｡****`) :**

**sarge1130: Where's the fun in telling the whole story all at once ;) More of her past will be explored in the future. She confirmed to Bepo actually that she's looking for multiple people, not just one. Thank you for the review, it's always appreciated (****) **

**Son of Whitebeard: exactly what I was going for (●'****'●)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

After leaving the ship Arianna decided to try and retrace her steps to Aishe. The large clock that stood above the rest of the buildings in the city only read 2:48 meaning she had just over an hour to find the dancer. It sounds easy enough sure, but all of these streets, sidewalks and buildings looked ridiculously repetitive to the huntress and as such an hour could be enough time, but it also could not. By to time the bells rang out indicating three o'clock Arianna still had not been able to properly navigate the streets well enough to not see the ocean if she looked back at the streets towards the sea salt smell every few turns.

Occasionally she would catch sight of familiar white suites with orange and black smiling Jolly Rogers, but she didn't bother trying to get any of their attentions. After being trapped on the sub for as long as they were together she has sincerely had enough of the pirates for the time being. Besides she had a new friend to track down. Unfortunately she wasn't having much luck in the tracking part, the city was too crowded and her senses too overloaded to properly do it, so her only option was to wander aimlessly until she can pick up on the sound her Aishe's instrument or just the sight of her.

Looking up at the clock again she saw that five minutes have passed without any change in her luck. *_Okay, new plan. Pick one direction and keep going for ten minutes then pick a new street and walk for five minutes.* _With her new plan of action set she followed it. Picking the street going directly opposite of the coast and proceeded forward, keeping an eye on the time. While following this plan she found a shop that was actually rather distinct from the rest all around her, this one had a really nice scent to it. Looking into the window she saw that the shelves were lined with jars filled with a variety of colors and shades. Looking at the clock tower Arianna felt that she could spare a few minutes to look around the shop, not that she had any money. *_Thanks guys.* _She was still pissed about Shachi and Penguin cheating her like that.

When she opened the door to the shop she heard an odd chiming sound and looked up at the top of the frame and saw three small metal rods that were responsible for the light hearted noise. *_How charming.* _She thought with a smile. Next she took a deep breath of the aromas that the filled the store. It was earthy and the whole inside reflected the scent, all the shelves and the counter were wood and the jars, she realized upon close inspection, were filled with grounded herbs and oils. The store seemed out of place in the dirty smelling stone city and she was entirely thankful for it. "Hello dear."

Arianna was so occupied with taking in the store itself she failed to acknowledge the elderly woman behind the counter. She had a face that spoke of the lifetime of wisdom that she must carry and kind eyes. She was definitely someone Arianna couldn't help but feel an innate respect for. "Hello ma'am. Would you mind me just looking around a bit? I can't buy anything but I much prefer being in here than out there."

The woman smiled at her. "Go on. I don't mind in the least. It's nice to have so many visitors today."

Arianna smiled in thanks and inspected some of the jars in the room. Reading a few of the labels on the shelves, she grabbed a jar that was marked as black snakeroot. Looking back at the woman at the counter she asked, "May I open it?"

The woman walked out from behind the counter to stand closer to the younger girl, "By all means."

When Arianna opened it she sniffed the contents cautiously. *_Oh! I know this.*_ She took a deeper sniff of the plant. "Your label says black snakeroot right? Cause it smells like an herb my grandmothers liked to use for when my siblings and I were sore, though they liked to call it fairy candle."

"That's a good nose you have. Black snakeroot is indeed for muscle pains. Want to test your knowledge on some others?" There was a friendly challenge in the woman's voice. Arianna did like a challenge but at the same time she wanted to find Aishe before she left her spot and practically disappear into the city. *_I haven't been in here for longer than a couple minutes. I suppose a bit longer wouldn't hurt anything.* _She concluded.

"Sounds fun. But only a few, I was looking for my friend when I found your store." With the younger woman accepting the challenge, the older one took a few jars and carried them to the counter and opened each one. The first one appeared to actually be a grounded mixture of leaves and flowers but beyond that Arianna didn't know anything about it. "I don't recognize this plant." She said with a disappointed frown.

The woman chuckled softly, "This is feverfew. You brew it into tea for headaches. How about this one?" she asked handing the girl another jar.

Taking a deep sniff, Arianna faintly remember the smell and the sight of faded pink color confirmed her suspicion. "This is for being sick, right?"

"In a nutshell. Mostly just the flu or colds. It's called Echinacea." The woman said.

"Just one more. I need to find my friend before four. Okay?" Arianna said, though she honestly didn't want to quit their little game she did want to find Aishe. She also saw a subtle change in the shop keeper's face, but whatever it was didn't stay for longer than half a second.

"Alright. Then let's try this one." The woman said, though still with a kind smile.

The jar's contents were actually an oil, probably not wanting the last one to be easy. Arianna smelled the oil and knew exactly what was in it. "That's night kiss oil, though you probably have a different name for it. It's for helping someone sleep."

She nodded. "We call it fishfuddle. You know this well, do you? Did you have trouble sleeping as a child?"

Arianna fidgeted uncomfortably as she eased herself towards the door. "This game was fun. But I should really get going." She nodded her head respectfully and darted through the door and into the stream of people, feeling a bit guilty for leaving the sweet old woman so rudely like that.

()

Law washed his hands in the sink of the infirmary on his ship. He glanced back at the two unconscious men on the small resting beds he brought out for them. They were fine, just enjoying a deep, deep drug induced sleep. In the end he decided that they were going to be the final testing trial subjects of a new tranquilizer that he was working out, using some of the formulas and chemicals he learned from the anesthesia book that he had been reading. The trials he had done on animals went well when he tried it out his last day at Breezy Cove, so he was confident it was safe to test on a human. With the two trouble makers out of the way for the time being, and Penguin having been given instructions to record what time they wake up, Law finally took his nodachi and left the ship. He recalled that Bart was going to take the men to a good looking bar a bit of a ways into town and he wanted to go meet up with them. *_Bart-ya told me it was about a twenty minute walk and that I should look for a woman dancing across the street.*_

As the pirate captain walked through the sidewalks and streets going by the directions Bart had given him he saw a confused and lost looking Arianna. He almost went up to her but she walked into the apothecary shop that Law had entered earlier that day. He continued on to the bar, noticing a particularly beautiful woman dancing across the street from it. Law couldn't help but stop and watch her for a minute. She had an impressive amount of elegance as she twirled, and as someone who had met the Pirate Empress in person he can confidently say that this dancer was equal in beauty._*That's something you don't see every day.* _Law smirked appreciatively at the woman, who was obviously looking at him with an appreciative stare and smile of her own. He briefly considered approaching her but decided to go into the bar for now, he'll go to her if she's still there later tonight.

Walking into the building Law immediately saw a cluster of Heart Pirates in the center of the room, mingling with various citizens many of which are women, and a large polar bear sitting next to an even larger man watching over the group and talking to one another. He walked and ordered a bottle of whiskey from the barmaid, who must be experienced in dealing with pirates as she required money upfront. Taking his bottle and two glasses Law joined the two off to the side, "Thanks for the directions Bart-ya."

The larger man responded with a proud smile, "Not a problem. This looked like a fun place to gather. Where are the others?"

Law frowned, "Arianna-ya is out on her own, getting lost from what I saw on my way here. Shachi and Penguin are on under ship arrest."

"Why? What happened now?"

"They broke one of the few rules I have between crewmembers." Law didn't want to elaborate. He wanted to sit, drink and enjoy his first night off of the ship in a long time. *_Night... Maybe I should look for an inn for the crew.* _Then he looked at his men, partying and drinking away ignoring the fact that it was only early afternoon._*No point. They're all already going wild, they're on their own for sleeping arrangements.*_

With his mind made up he poured the whiskey into the large glass and moved it over to the former pirate captain and poured himself one. Bart took the drink and raised it, offering a thank you and sipped his whiskey. Law did the same.

Afterwards he asked the two something. "Have either of you learned anything about the island?"

Bepo perked up and answered for them both. "Yes. This island is called Beau Jardin and the city itself is Murat. The log post takes 25 hours to set."

"25 hours huh." Law mulled over the amount of time. They had already spent about five hours docked which left 20 hours to go, and they can leave early afternoon tomorrow. *_At least we won't need to waste so much time like when we were at Breezy Cove.* _But he also couldn't help and consider spending extra time on the island. They had been sailing for three weeks and just one day on solid land might not be enough for the crew. He wanted to get a good amount of training done with Arianna while they were on the island too since it was dangerous for them to go all out while on the ship. *_I'll see how things go while we're here for now. If we can, I don't see any harm in staying an extra night.* _As Law continued his thoughts he poured himself another glass and drank the whole thing in one swig, releasing a breath after the burning liquid went down his throat. Refilling his glass a third time, Law watched the men of his crew enjoying themselves and thought about the two men who may or may not still be unconscious in the ship's infirmary, knowing that if they were there it would be much more entertaining since the two had always been at the center of the parties. But he wasn't going to let them off their punishment just for the sake of him and his crew having a better time. His thoughts were interrupted when Law realized that the number of people increased dramatically, so he looked at the door and saw more people entering. "When did all these people get here?" he wondered quietly, questioning if he was already drunk which would be odd since he didn't even feel a mild buzz.

"The barmaid, Olivie, warned us when we came in that there's usually a big increase of customers after 4:30 because citizens come here after their work." Bart informed him.

Hearing this, Law immediately thought about leaving and taking his bottle somewhere else to drink. The people didn't seem all that happy about the pirates having practically taken over there after work hangout, situations like this didn't usually end well, with it becoming an all-out drunken brawl between his crew and the locals. His dissatisfaction for the situation must've been starting to show on his face because Bart asked, "Should we go somewhere else before we get pulled into a pointless fight?"

"Yeah." He said, getting up and he was followed by Bepo and Bart. As they walked through the room back to the door they were joined by Marcus and Oliver, both of whom were still sober enough to know what was coming and wanted nothing to do with it.

After they exited the building Law glanced around for the dancer but she was already gone. *_Too bad I hadn't approached her first.* _He slightly regretted going into the bar but quickly decided that it was pointless to dwell on it and he wandered around the streets with four of his men.

()

After having left the herbalist's shop Arianna went back to wandering the streets looking for Aishe. *_Crap! It's almost four already!* _She walked as quickly as she could since if she ran it might worry or upset the other people. However all of her efforts amounted to nothing as the clock tower tolled, signaling four o'clock and the time that Aishe said she was leaving. She also suddenly felt incredibly trapped as the people walking the sidewalks suddenly increased. Not knowing what to do now, Arianna followed the flow of the crowd until it took her to a large open area that sat in front of the clock tower. The area was big enough that there was breathing room for her despite the large number of people there. She found an empty spot in the shade of the one of the building and took a minute to collect herself and breath. She was starting to feel a little dizzy in that crowd. It wasn't until she set out on her own two years ago that Arianna had ever seen a large number of people in one place. Her Family was about the size of the Heart crew so she was quite comfortable with them, and while she had become somewhat accustomed to seeing large crowds in the past couple years she still didn't feel any level of comfort when in one.

While breathing and trying to steel herself to go back out into the flood of people she started to hear voices shouting out over the collective noises of the general crowd. Looking up she saw that many of the people who were walking had slowed down their pace and the ones who stopped completely were all looking towards the general direction of the tower. She approached the audience and could quite distinctly make out the words being shouted now. "You practically have us driven out of our own homeland! My people were here long before you and your precious Murat was built! Give us back our land!" *_That's Aishe's voice!*_

Arianna ran now and saw that the people had parted, creating a path that followed the empty street. Or rather empty except for the beautiful dancer who had changed into a casual looking green and white dress and wore a large orange stone around her neck who was facing a large, fancy looking black cart being pulled by two horses and two soldiers carrying spears stood in front of the horses and two more soldiers stood behind the cart itself. Arianna's eyes went back to Aishe who was holding something up. "We want our home back! Leave!" To reinforce her order for the men to leave she threw what was in her hand in front of the horses, when it hit the ground there was a small explosion. The explosion was not by any means large enough to be dangerous on its own, but it was more than enough to startle the horses, which both reared up and started bucking and trying to run in separate directions in an attempt to escape the place where they were scared. At that the man sitting on the cart, holding the ropes that guided the animals and the two soldiers in the front attempted to calm them while the two who were behind the cart charged forward at Aishe, yelling "Filthy rat, bitch!"

Aishe readied herself for their assault with fearful eyes, but Arianna didn't let them get close enough to even try and hurt her. Shoving her way past the few people blocking her way, the pirate girl drew her tomahawk and when she was a foot away from the soldiers she slid down to her knees and angled her weapon just enough for the bottom part of the blade, where it was dull, catching one of the soldiers by his outside ankle and she pushed herself back up to her feet in one continuous motion, flipping the man down onto his back. In the time it took the other soldier to comprehend that the girl that appeared seemingly from nowhere was attacking them she had already started her assault on him. Coating her tomahawk in her Warrior's Cloak she swung it down through the middle of the spear, cutting it in half, then with her path clear she jumped up crashing into the man's body and pushing the handle of the tomahawk up to the man's neck after which she fluidly swinging herself over and behind him. Then grabbing the above the blade of her weapon with her other hand she put pressure on his throat and kicked into his spine, throwing him backwards and as their bodies were parallel to the street below she released her hold on the bladed end of the tomahawk and disconnected herself from the soldier, finishing her flip so that she landed crouched on the stone ground while the soldier flew into one of the other two soldiers.

With the way cleared to her friend Arianna raced to Aishe and took her hand, "We should go." Aishe just stared in awe. When she still didn't react Arianna said in a slightly urgent voice. "Now!"

At that Aishe blinked then changed her expression to a more serious one and nodded. "This way!" She began towing Arianna into the crowd, who parted in fear at the two women. Aishe lead them down a few streets and turns but then suddenly stopped. Knelling at a panel of grating on the side of a building connecting to the ground, she pulled it out of its place and turned to her protector. "We go down here."

Arianna nodded and followed her into the darkness. If the city above smelled dirty, than below it was downright horrific. *_This place is awful.* _The girl thought to herself, covering her nose with her free hand and still held onto her guide with her other. After walking in silence for a minute or two her eyes picked up on the soft glow of light in the distance and what were certainly the sound of a large amount of activity. When they were close enough to the light to vaguely see properly Aishe stopped and squeezed the hand she was still holding "Arianna-san. Thank you for protecting me." She then turned around and looked her in the eyes, and for the first time Arianna realized that Aishe had grey eyes. "I knew what would happen when I went to confront him. I knew but when the soldiers charged to me I was terrified."

Arianna wanted to comfort her. "No need for that '-san'. Plus I'm under the impression that normal people are usually frightened of violence and being attacked by armed people. So why wouldn't you be afraid?"

Maybe it was her wording but for some reason Arianna wasn't sure of Aishe chuckled. "You're right. A normal person would be afraid, but I'm not a normal person. I've been rebelling against him for years and it's not the first time the soldiers have gone after me. This fear is going to take getting used to." Her words were somehow both sad and wistful.

"What makes you so sure it wasn't just a one-time thing if you're used to such occurrence? And who is this guy you're talking about?" This contradiction was making Arianna's head spin. She was missing some important pieces of information in this conversation but Aishe seemed to not realize it.

"The man I'm talking about is named Baudin Edgar, he was the one in that cart. He's the lord that rules the city of Murat. The Baudin family came to this island and built this city about eighty years ago, destroying the villages of my people and forcing us into hiding and shame. Nearly all of the people living in that city are families who came here since then and they have looked at us with disdain since they invaded. Not that they'd ever admit to it being that way. 'The lord Baudin civilized an island of thieves and rats.' They all like to say. But we can't live like this. My people and I have been trying to drive Baudin Edgar out for the entirety of my life. But we need to do more than threaten him or try to scare him. I know violence will end up being our best way out." The more Aishe spoke the thicker the anger in her voice became.

Not liking the sound of the woman's anger, Arianna touched her arm and again asked. "What makes you sure you will continue being afraid when you are attacked?"

The woman's face softened and she directed her soft smile at Arianna. "Because I'm going to be a mother, and I am certain that I will forever fear for my child."

()

Law, Bepo, Bart, Marcus and Oliver walked down the sidewalks of the city easily. Locals made an effort to part and get out of their way, probably fearful of upsetting the group of obvious pirates. "Should we try to find a new bar or were you just planning on wandering around Captain?" Marcus asked and everyone stopped to look towards their captain.

"Hmm. Let's see if we can find somewhere else to go." Law answered.

"Maybe a place with proper food instead of just bar food." Oliver suggested.

Bart and Bepo mumbled agreements and Marcus said nothing more, but the seemed to take it as an agreement as well. Bepo lifted his head and tried his best to sniff out a place with good food but instead a deep frown came to his face and then he hung his head in deep depression. "The whole city's smell is overpowering everything else. I can't find anything. I'm sorry."

Bart sighed at the sight of Bepo's odd mood swing but otherwise there was no reaction from the pirates. Law turned and began walking, "We'll just look around then."

As the three pirates followed their captain, Marcus spoke to the bear. "What do you mean the 'city's smell'? Is it all the people or the buildings or something?"

Bepo looked down at the human walking beside him when he answered with a sad voice "It's hard to describe in words. The best I can say is that it smells dirty and it's hard to smell anything more than a few feet from me. I had hoped that if I concentrate I could find something but I can't."

Marcus didn't ask any more questions, there was no reason to. *_I bet Arianna is having trouble with the smell too.* _He thought, slightly shocked that how she might be fairing with the discomfort of a bad smell was what occupied his mind. Shaking the thought away Marcus picked up his lagging pace to catch back up to Law who was leading them further into the city than before.

Within a few minutes Oliver asked an unexpected question. "Is it just me or is it already starting to get dark?"

Though no one stopped this time everyone did look up and around themselves. Yes, it was indeed starting to go dark as the sky was already turning different shades. Bart spoke up and explained to the blond-haired medic. "This island is much more north than the last so the days are much shorter. Though I wasn't expecting it to be this much shorter."

_*Great dark at five in the afternoon. Wonder what kind of weirdos come out at night in this city.* _Marcus wondered as Law led the group until they found a large open area at the base of the clock tower. "Looks like there was some kind of incident." The captain informed them.

Sure enough, there was a large collection of soldiers in the center of the plaza and a collection of citizens crowding around them. "Should we go find out what happened?" Bepo asked.

"No. It doesn't concern us." Law sounded just as his words said. Unconcerned. So they instead changed directions to travel down a south street in their search for a good place to eat, though Marcus would settle for a food stand at this point, not that they'd seen so much as that. "Captain. Maybe we should just go back to the bar." He decided to suggest.

Law stopped and seemed to glance around before responding "Yeah. It'll probably be easiest."

As the group turned to cross the street they were stopped by a black carriage escorted by soldiers. "Watch yourselves peasants." One of the soldiers barked at them.

The insulting words did not fall well on the pirates' ears. *_These asshole are just looking for a fight.* _Marcus was already slowly trailing his hand down to the rope dart coiled at his waist. But before anything could occur between the pirates and the soldiers a small explosion went off startling horses, soldiers and pirates alike. Immediately people dressed in solid black and wearing masks of rags and hoods appeared from the alleys and shadows of the darkening city. Marcus, Oliver, Bart and Bepo all tensed as they were about to start attacking the newcomers but stopped at the voice of their captain. "Wait. Let's see what happens first."

Marcus froze and watched what was unfolding. The people in black began attacking the soldiers and carriage, one of them disconnected the horses as four others distracted the guards at the front. He counted six more people in black trying to take down the other four guards, though only one of them seemed to have any considerable amount of skill in a fight. Marcus understood why Law had told them to stand down now. *_Their target is strictly the carriage than, huh?*_

The more he watched the group the more closely he paid attention to the one attacker who was actually able to take down the soldiers, who now turned and stopped for just a moment to look at them. "Dammit."

The sound of his captain cursing shocked apparently not only Marcus but the other pirates as well, as they all stared at him in confusion. "Catch that one." He ordered just in time for more soldiers to force their way through the crowd of panicked spectators and surrounded the little group of attackers. Someone shouted out "Retreat!" and all of them except for the one that Law had ordered they capture threw something at the crowd of citizens and the soldiers and more explosions went off. The four boys tried to make their way to their target but the crowd of terrified people was preventing them from getting through. Marcus noticed Law opening his Room but the chaos of the people running and screaming in all directions seemed to be making the captain's concentration difficult to maintain, as the blue circle flickered. But the amount of people crashing through trickled down enough for Marcus to force his way into the street and chase after the retreating group.

He was fast and managed to keep up with them, but not fast enough to close the distance. Luckily they turned into a narrow alley that required they go one at a time, giving him the chance he needed. Never taking his eyes off of the one he was after, who was the smallest and waiting to go through last, Marcus closed the distance just enough that he was in range to catch his target with his rope dart.

Throwing it with well-practiced precision it would have wrapped itself around the small person's abdomen, but the person had noticed it and jumped up and out of the way, so instead Marcus manipulated the cord making it suddenly go up and wrap around an ankle, then he yanked it and the person attached to it down to the ground. He never stopped running as he made his catch and was on top of the person in a matter of seconds, easily before she picked herself off of the ground. *_Wait. A small girl?*_

A pair of bright green eyes were staring up at him. "Arianna?! What the hell are you doing?!"

She did not say a word and before he could demand anything else from her a clothed hand was over his face. He could only struggled for a second. *_Shit. There's something on this…*_

Then everything was black.

* * *

**Fun facts! Murat is a real town in France, but I didn't base anything in this town off of that one, just the name. If anything I'm picturing Notre Dame (Disney movie version, I have no clue what the real city looks like.) Also in keeping with the French theme Beau Jardin means "beautiful garden" **

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****• ****ω •****｡****`) :**

**avaiaal: I'm sorry you were having a bad day. I'm happy to help cheer you up :)**

**sarge1130: Yeah. What can I say, Law likes to make it clear when his crew pisses him off. (At least I think he does, we don't know for sure yet)**

**Apple Bloom: I had trouble not laughing while I was writing it myself. Enjoy the new chapter**

**L.t. tiger: Welcome back**! ٩**(**๑❛**ᴗ**❛๑**)**۶

**Holy crap, you took notes?! That's insane(-ly flattering)! Lol **

**Yeah, Penguin loves his ship, but… for the sub to have a Klabautermann was something that never crossed my mind *looks away and covers story notes suspiciously* hehe. **

**I'm happy Arianna doesn't seem too silly. I was worried that she was looking more like goofy was her defining characteristic, and I really don't want that. **

**Thank you for saying something about the way the boys and Law's relationship was looking. I hadn't really noticed that it's a bit, as you said, unhinged. As far as what they said to Law, it was chapter 6 (EDITED: whoops and 10 didn't realize they told him twice), where I live guy friends seem to consider it their responsibility to tell their friends that they're being boring/lame/a dick/etc. and totally failed to realize that it's probably not like that anywhere else. No worries! I will remedy their relationship!**

**All of the different POV's were really enjoyable to write. Bepo's was my favorite since it let me explore his and Law's relationship a bit. Though I wish I had been able to give Oliver a bit of a spotlight too.**

**As for a beta-reader, no I don't have one. Might not be a bad idea though. Only problem is none of my friends like manga/anime so if I were to get someone to do it, it would probably be a reader. And yes, lecturous is supposed to be lecherous. **

**Lucy Jacob: I don't know what it is about you're comment but I can't read it without laughing uncontrollably XD**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

Law, Bepo, Oliver and Bart all finally managed to break through the crowd of terrified citizens and gave chase after Marcus who in turn was after who Law is certain to be the most troublesome crewmember he was starting to regret, Arianna. Whoever were the people she was with were they obviously knew the streets well because the pirates quickly lost track of their targets. The small group was forced to stop their pursuit after a few streets as they were at a complete lost as to where they should look. Since they were not having any luck in finding the attackers Law settled to calling Marcus on the small den den mushi that he had at all times, just in case.

Holding it out as the four pirates circled around, he dialed the number and it rang through continuously for about a minute before stopping without any answer from the other end. *_That's bad. _He dialed the number again. This time it was cut halfway through the first ring.

"Damn it. Bepo, are you sure you can't pick up on Marcus' scent?" Law asked his companion.

He hung his head in shame before answering. "No. I'm sorry."

Bart looked at him, slightly annoyed. "Do we really have the time for that?"

"I'm sorry." His depression went a little deeper.

Ignoring the saddened bear, Bart spoke to Law. "What do you want to do from here?"

"Go back to the bar and tell the rest of the crew to return to the ship now. They're probably drunk stupid so tell them to start sleeping the alcohol off. The three of us will look around and see what we can find. It's very improbable that the attack just now was an isolated event that no one knows anything about." He ordered calmly.

"Um, Captain?" Oliver started. "Why did you want us to go after one of them?"

"Because that one in particular was Arianna-ya." He announced.

"What?! Are you sure?!" Bepo asked in shock.

"Positive." Her face may have been covered but he after the sparring matches they've had it didn't mattered if she looked like a ten foot purple hairy monster, he knew the way she moved.

Bart nodded at the information and started a quick pace back to the bar. "I'll get moving then."

"Where do you want to look first Captain?" Oliver asked.

"Let's go back to where the attack was and ask anyone who might still be in the area." The captain decided.

Easily finding their way back to the street where the attack took place, the pirates were confronted with large group of soldiers who were crowded around the citizens that were in the area. Since all of those guards were busy he approached the three stationed at the carriage that had been at the center of the attack. Chances are, they would have more information about what just happened anyways. "Hey, what happened just know? Who were those people that attacked?"

"This matter doesn't concern tourist like you. Go to wherever you plan on staying for your time here and don't come out until tomorrow." Law felt his brow twitch at the order. This guard clearly didn't have any idea who he was talking to. As much as he wanted to cut this insolent man's in half the commotion it would cause would prevent the pirates from getting information that could help find his unaccounted for subordinates.

"It is my concern. One of my men is missing after going after them." He settled for rebuking the man in his coldest tone, which successfully sent a look of terror into the guard's eyes.

That same guard seemed to ready himself to try and order Law again but one of the other two guards yanked him back with a hand firmly over his mouth. "Are you crazy?! That's one of the Supernova, Trafalgar Law!"

The first guard now stared at the pirate captain with what he deemed was the appropriate amount of terror a weak piece of trash like that should.

"Did I hear right? A Supernova? On my island?" A voice from inside the carriage called out.

_*His island?* _Law questioned silently.

The door to the carriage opened and a man who might've been in his fifties walked out. He was wearing, what was most definitely high quality, blue jacket and pants both emblazoned with gold trimming and a ruffled white shirt beneath the jacket. His graying dark brown hair was tied back with a ribbon that looked like it was the same shade of blue as the rest of his outfit. Just looking at him gave Law an annoyed feeling. This was definitely the type of man who thought highly of himself for reasons that didn't actually matter, and when it came down to it, he certainly wouldn't be capable of doing anything for himself.

"I am the Lord Baudin Edgar. This city of Murat was founded by my family. You said one of your men had gone after those rats. Perhaps you would like to come with me back to my manor? There we could work out some type of agreement that benefits both of us?"

The man didn't seem to even be trying to hide his intent to use the pirate crew. Law was not going to be playing puppet to anyone. "I don't expect we'd need your kind of help." Was the only response he had any desire to give the pompous man.

However as he turned to walk away the Lord called out. "That's too bad. No one in this city has any idea where those rats hole themselves up in. And I am on my way to see the only person with any clue as to how to find them. If you were to come, I certainly would propose that he share his information with you as well."

This man was taunting Law, and it was pissing him off. But no matter how angry he got, he had a responsibility to his crew's safety. Ensuring Marcus was alive and Arianna had a very good explanation for her actions came first. "Fine. But Bepo and Oliver come with me as well." He'd get back at this arrogant man after all is said and done.

()

The first thing Marcus was aware of was what sounded like distant voices but he couldn't make any of them out. It just sounded like a distant humming. He waited another minute as the voices became clearer. "He shouldn't have been following us in the first place." Marcus didn't recognize this voice. It was a man and that was all he could say about it.

"So your answer is to bring him? You should've just left him in the street. Or the side walk. Somewhere that wasn't here! And you! Why did you untie him?" This was another man.

"Enough you two!" This was the angry voice of a woman. Then her tone changed. "He was after you. What's your connection to him?"

"He's a Heart Pirate named Marcus. The captain, Trafalgar Law, probably recognized me and sent him after me. I definitely saw him and a few of the others during the attack." That was Arianna. *_I knew it was her!*_

At the sound of the girl's voice Marcus opened his eyes and tried to sit up, groaning as he did. His vision was blurry but since all the talking stopped he could guess that he got everyone's attention.

"Marcus? Are you okay?" That was Arianna again.

He blinked a few times, clearing his vision. Once he could see straight he held his hand up for her to take, which she did as she pulled him up to his feet. It took an extra second for him to steady himself and she looked a bit concerned as he tested his balance. When he released her hand he simply grabbed on to her shirt collar instead and pulled her in close to make sure she was paying attention to what he had to say. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Arianna's eyes widened almost twice in size in surprise and he saw her mouth open and close repeatedly. All she needed was to be flopping around and she would've been a perfect imitation of a fish out of water. He let go and crossed his arms. "Well? Do you even have an answer?" He may not have yelled this time, but his voice still had the same level of anger.

Now she was blinking nervously and looking all over until she settled to look at her feet and folded her hands in front of her. She went from suffocating fish to scolded child in an instant. "Um... Well…" She seemed to be unsure of what to say but then he could actually see a new thought cross her mind as her expression changed like she realized something and started to argue back, "Wait! Why do I have to explain myself to you? La- Captain said we can do whatever we want so long as we're back at the ship by morning. I was going to be back, so what does it matter?"

Perhaps if Marcus had not been drugged and presumably tied up, though later untied, he would be a bit more willing to consider her argument; but he had been. Which means no amount of reasoning from the girl would get her off the hook with him. "There are very few rules about going into town, but one of them is to not compromise the crew! By getting involved with whatever local issue is going on that's exactly what you're doing. Compromising the crew!"

"But the crew has nothing to do with my actions, so how am I compromising anyone? And for the record, no one has ever told me of any rules for when we go out on islands. I figured everyone just kinda did whatever and came back when Captain said to."

"I was drugged and abducted! What part of that isn't directly because of what you did?" The more the two went back and forth the more heated Marcus was getting. Though the thought did cross his mind that he had to remember to actually give her all the crew's rules for being off the ship if she escapes both his and the captain's anger alive.

"Perhaps…" A female voice interjected before their argument could continue. "If we explained why Arianna-chan is helping us you would understand her actions better."

When Marcus looked at the woman that the voice belonged to he was startled to see that it was the woman who was dancing in front of the bar from earlier that day. He remembered thinking that she was probably the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

Marcus looked from the dancer then at all the other faces around him, and took in where he actually was for the first time. There was a group of twelve people surrounding him if he included Arianna, and they looked to be underground with all the light coming from torches and lanterns. Wherever they were, it smelled awful.

He looked at the dancer again, noting that she was the only one not wearing black and probably wasn't in the attack. "Where are we?"

"Come. We will take you to our home and explain everything. Once we tell you our story you will be free to leave."

One of the men seemed to take issue with that. "You want to take him to our last stronghold then let him walk out?! He'll go running off to that Baudin bastard and tell him where we are."

"We will be found sooner or later. If we are found and destroyed, I would rather it be on our terms than theirs. Wouldn't you?" Her words seemed to effectively put the disapproving man in his place.

Marcus could see that he had little choice in the matter, especially since his rope dart was in their hands and not his. "Fine. I'll follow. You're story better do a great job of convincing me though."

"If you're half as nice as I think you can be, it will." Arianna said before rushing to the dancer's side and hooking her arm possessively around the taller woman's elbow. *_Where did that come from?* _He wondered in a moment of idle thought.

"How to start?" The dancer said somewhat quietly.

()

Law and Oliver sat in the speeding carriage across from the pompous Lord while Bepo sat on the roof outside as there was not enough room for the bear. "Now before you gentlemen go off to take back your missing mate I should think you would like some information about the people you are going after, correct?"

"That's our only reason for agreeing to come with you at all." Law said somewhat impatiently.

Baudin did not seem phased at all by Law's tone and instead continued on to explain. "The criminals that attacked my carriage were but a small portion of their full force. The rats supposedly call themselves Indigène not that anyone else does. They were using this island as a smugglers base for themselves to come back to for safety after thieving from whoever they could. Unfortunately that means they know every inch of this island, which is why they have been able to hide so well for the past eighty years. They are a whole society of tricksters and pickpockets. Coning, mugging, even killing they commit whatever crime they want to and proclaim they are free of an outsider's justice system. They are nothing more than bandits. Unfortunately they are slippery bandits and we haven't been able to corner them and catch them all."

"'Catch them'?" Law questioned. They way this man was talking, and his interest in having a pirate captain famous for cruelty helping him, it doesn't sound like he wants to simply arrest these people.

"Of course. My forces and I are not barbarians. We arrest any we can and place them in prison. More than half of our island's prisoners are these thieves." The Lord sounded somewhat insulted by Law's question.

"For how long do you keep them in prison?" Oliver asked.

Baudin smiled proudly. "Until they agree to leave behind their old way of life and join proper society. I make it that easy for them."

"If they agreed that it is that easy they why is your prison still filled with mostly them?" The young medic murmured quietly and into his hand, pretending to just be looking out the window, but Law heard and agreed. Before they were left in silence for too long the carriage came to a stop.

"We are finally here." The lord said obviously relieved.

A few seconds later the door was opened from the outside and the lord walked out, followed by Law then Oliver. After the two were out Bepo jumped down from the top of the carriage and stood beside his captain and they all took in their surroundings.

The manor was large and elegant. The building appeared to be four floors with lines of window along every floor, it looked large enough to fit probably about two and a half of Law's submarines. The walls were made of cut stone like the rest of the city and the roof was shingled with a bronze color. They themselves were standing in a courtyard laid with white cut stone and there were large fountains on both ends of the space. The man who opened the carriage door looked at them with obvious distrust. "Please follow me."

The inside of the building was just as extravagant, polished and sleek marble looking floors that were mostly covered with patterned rugs and the orange painted walls were decorated with various paintings and portraits. The three pirates were led down several halls, through multiple doors and up two flights of stairs before they finally arrived what was apparently their destination, a large decorated office. Standing beside an armchair was a large man in chain mail armor, holding his helmet under his arm revealing a rigid, bearded face with black hair. At the groups entrance he bowed to a man in the chair and again to Baudin then left, eyeing the pirates as he did.

A young man, probably around Law's age, stood up from the comfortable looking armchair in behind a large ornately carved wooden desk. He had brown hair that was, just as the Lord's, tied at the nape of his neck with a ribbon though his was a dull green. He wore a similarly dull green coat that reached half-way down his calves with a brown button vest that was over a white shirt and brown pants.

Baudin chuckled. "Chevalier is always so suspicious isn't he?"

The man from the chair smiled. "Isn't that his job?"

He then greeted the group with a polite smile and held out his hand to Law first, which he ignored just staring at the man instead. "My name is Abel." He introduced, dropping his hand and not giving the obviously ignored gesture another moment. He then turned to Baudin with an amused looking expression, "You did not tell me that we were expecting guest Father. Hoping for a business venture with famous pirates now, are we?"

_*Father?* _Law was somewhat surprised at the information. Though they haven't spent so much as a minute in the same room he already got the feeling that this man did not have the arrogance that the older man held.

"Their company was not planned." He explained as he traveled behind the desk and took his seat. "Please, share the information that you were going to. They wish to find the rats as well so I felt that they could use some information as to where to start."

Abel chuckled, "Always trying to help. Aren't you?"

Law's patience with the whole situation was low and he wanted his information so that he can leave. "One of my subordinates was taken by them, and time is precious. So can we hurry?" There was some annoyance in his voice, but he tried to keep most of it in so that they won't change their minds and all this time was wasted for nothing.

Abel looked surprised, but Law's announcement seemed to have the desired effect as his face turned serious and he cut to his information. "The Indigène are most definitely hiding somewhere in the city. From what I can tell, they are placing plants in specific places, namely the clock tower's plaza and several random seeming streets as a form of communication. I am certain that these messages cannot be very descriptive though so they must have some other means of communicating through the city. And just so you know Trafalgar-san we do know that it isn't through the use of den den mushis because we've put a temporary ban on them while the indigene are being located so that the signals can be traced and we have not picked up on any since. However their actions have not been hindered in any way, which is why we are certain that they are communicating through other means."

"Why are you so certain that they are not simply planning their attacks from their hiding place?" Bepo asked. Law was about to ask the question too. It was a logical assumption.

"We estimate their numbers to be too large to be hiding all in one place, especially if they are able to stay out of sight within the city's limits."

"Is that all you have?" Law asked.

Abel hummed, "Unfortunately. As I'm sure Father has already explained to you, the Indigene have been on this island longer than us, and know it better. They are difficult to track."

"Fine. We'll be leaving then." Law decided.

Oliver and Bepo both thanked the two nobles as their captain didn't. Instead Law gave the younger noble a deliberate look then turned, leaving the room. As the three retraced their steps down and out of the manor Bepo couldn't help but ask something. "What do we do now Captain?"

"Just wait." He said knowingly.

Out in the courtyard, they didn't make it more than three feet from the door before hearing someone call out to them. "Wait!"

Bepo and Oliver turned and saw Abel chasing after them. "I thought I'd lead you back to the busier part of town. Father had you come with him in his carriage, correct?"

"Oh, that won't be necessary. I was outside the carriage so I know how to get back." Bepo explained nicely.

"Oh, don't be silly! If you make one mistake in navigating this city you could end up going in completely the wrong direction." Abel insisted.

"Alright then. Lead the way Young Baudin-ya." Law said with a knowing smirk, which the other man returned while the other two pirates looked at one another with confusion.

After the group of four made it a few blocks away from the manor courtyard the Heart's new guide finally spoke up. "So what gave me away Trafalgar-san?"

"The old man said only the people themselves use the word Indigene, but you did multiple times. I take it you are also withholding information about them since you are actually on their side of this conflict." Law answered without missing a beat.

"Ah, crap. I've got to be more careful about that." He rubbed the back of his head as if embarrassed. "Actually I know where they are hiding. And if they took someone from your crew I'm sure he's fine. Grandmother Violca doesn't like unnecessary violence so they won't hurt him, and knowing Aishe, she's probably trying to convert him to our side. Her hope for help was renewed today after making a new friend."

Law felt himself frown. "I don't suppose this 'new friend' of hers is a smallish girl with brown hair and new to the island?"

Abel chuckled nervously. "One of yours I take it."

"Yeah." All three pirates answered in unison.

"Well, you may not be too happy about her getting involved with everything but I'm going to say thank you anyways. Arianna-san saved Aishe's life today and if it weren't for you bringing her to this island I would be mourning the death of my best friend." The man seemed to genuinely appreciate Law's sudden arrival to the island though he couldn't care less about what is happening to it.

"Let's go and collect any sober members of the crew first then get to the Indigene's hideout and get our missing pirates back." Law decided.

()

Arianna sat in an underground shanty-town village looking Marcus who was looking back and forth between her and Aishe. The woman had told him the Indigène peoples' story, in greater detail than she had heard. The full version of the story included the details of transporters for merchants in the surrounding islands until the Baudin family, a family that were previously clients of theirs, had starting to lose money so they sought to make their business expenses cheaper. The patriarch at the time, a man named Miguel, decided on a new business venture: building a port town in the center of their trading network on the island of Beau Jardin. It is thought that the Baudin family found the island by placing a vivre card among some goods that they were having shipped, then attacked when the majority of able body people were away sailing to other islands. After they established a headquarters on the island the Indigène's every attempt to retake their land ended poorly and their name had been tainted by Miguel, who had started rumors of them stealing goods and money from their clients. With nowhere to go they decided to use their superior knowledge of the land to establish a hidden home and rebel against the Baudin family from within the island.

After hearing the whole story, Arianna felt a deep sadness for her friend. She was born into this treachery and she deserved better. All of her people deserved better.

"So, Marcus? Will you help?" Arianna asked, hopeful.

"Please." Aishe added in.

He seemed to think about it. He did. But when he answered it was not what she wanted to hear. "Captain gets the final say. And if he says that we need to leave the situation alone, then that's what we are going to do."

"NO! He's going to be really mad at me right? What if he won't help?!" She asked desperate.

Marcus seemed utterly calm with his answer. "Then we leave them alone, like I said. Now let's go and find him."

Not wanting to leave her friend without a guarantee of seeing her again Arianna did the first thing that her instincts told her to. She sat, planting herself in her spot on the ground, crossing her arms and going utterly silent. A part of her mind registered that her expression had fallen into her pout but felt it was expected.

"Don't act like a child! We're pirates and we may live free but we still live under our Captain's word. Now let's go." He sounded exasperated as he waited for her to do as she was told.

Instead she gave him no response at all.

"Seriously? Arianna we can't stay here and help without Captain's okay. Especially when he knows I was taken."

Still no response.

"Get up now." Marcus' tone had slipped into something that sounded like an adult talking to a disobedient child.

But she continued to sit there. Not looking at him. Not even acknowledging that he had spoken.

"That's it!" He growled as he took hold of her to lift her up and carry her out of the underground village. However the moment he got his hands on her, her hand flashed out and punched him clean across his cheek making him let go and take a few steps back, rubbing his cheek.

"Are you alright?" She heard Aishe ask.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Marcus answered, sounding a little embarrassed.

He then got right in her face again. "Are you just going to sit there until you get what you want like a brat?"

Nothing from her.

He looked like he was thinking and then he got up and left her field of vision. A few minutes later he came back carrying some delicious smelling food, holding it in front of her like a treat. "It's all yours once you get up and come with me."

_*Trying to bribe me with food? Seriously? Aishe and her child's safety rank higher on my priority scale than my stomach jerk!* _She thought to herself, but visibly still gave no reaction.

After he figured out that she wasn't taking the bait, Marcus just threw himself onto the ground and groaned. "Why can't you just work with me brat?"

She heard Aishe giggle in the background and was tempted to smile, but held it back. It would undermine refusing the food, which now reminded her that she hasn't eaten anything since breakfast. *_Doesn't matter! I'm not moving from this spot unless I can help Aishe.*_ Arianna was not going to let anyone shake her resolve.

()

"Captain! Thank you for letting us off the ship!" Shachi exclaimed happily.

After he returned to the sub Law found, not to his surprise, that the whole crew was passed out drunk and many had to actually be carried back. Meaning his able bodied men consisted of himself, Bepo, Oliver, Bart, Shachi and Penguin. Law didn't expect anything dangerous to happen tonight, but it would be better to have people ready. With a few more members of his crew on hand, Law had Abel lead them to the Indigene village as he called it.

To the surprise of pirate group they were taken to a drainage grate at the bottom of a building. He pulled it out. "Down we go."

Abel took a moment to light a torch that was placed near the entrance and led them down into the darkness of the under-city. "Wow. The city can stand with all of this hollowed out underneath?" Penguin asked, probably the engineer in him curious about the integrity of their surroundings.

"Oh yeah." Abel said confidently. "This has been hollowed out long before the city was built actually. So, we're not in any danger if that's what you were thinking about."

The walk itself was short but the smell was horrible. A lot of the trash and waste makes it way down there apparently. When they made it to the end of the tunnel it opened into a large alcove that was filled with people and wooden structures that looked vaguely like houses. Despite the obviously disgusting living conditions and poor situation of the people in general, they all seemed happy and lively. Abel grabbed the first person he saw and seemed to ask him something before coming back to the pirates. "So your man Marcus is over at Aishe's place. Arianna-san is likely there too."

He started leading them again but stopped and said with a smile on his face. "Watch your possessions. The kids here like to practice their pickpocketing whenever they get the chance, and they are quite good."

_*So they are thieves?* _Law thought a little surprised. He obviously doesn't have any qualms with stealing or killing but with the way Abel and apparently Arianna both feel so protective of them, he was starting to think that the Indigene people were actually completely innocent of the crimes they were accused of. Beyond their attacks on the old man that is.

As they walked through, all of the men held on to their pockets tightly and Law noticed a few children eyeing them with disappointment. "Captain!"

Law looked up to see Marcus standing next to a sitting Arianna, and sitting on a crate was to his surprise the dancer from earlier that day. Bepo raced ahead of the group and inspected the two closely. "You're both okay right? What happened? Why isn't Ari-chan moving? And why is your cheek red?"

Marcus sighed. "We're fine. Captain you're going to have to try to talk to this one." He said pointing at the girl on the ground.

"What do you mean try?" Law asked unhappily.

Shachi, possibly seeing her unresponsiveness to the group's arrival as an opportunity for talk to her, ran over and immediately started rambling. "Ari-chan! Are you okay? What's wrong? You're not hurt are you?"

At the last question he reached out to probably try and inspect the oddly still girl. When he did though, Law heard Marcus try to stop him. "No, don't –" Before the sentence was finished Shachi had gotten hold of her arm and she immediately lashed out and hit the man in the face.

"-touch her." Marcus finished his sentence though it was pointless now. "And Bepo, that's what happened to my cheek."

While Law could see that Shachi was obviously fine, she looked like she was just swatting a fly away when she hit him, the captain did not take the already problematic girl striking members of his crew lightly. Standing directly in front of her, he glared down. "Arianna-ya. Who do you think you are, striking another member of our crew like that?"

"N-no. I'm fine Captain. I was more surprised than anything." Shachi was trying to defend her, but he did not care.

Law's glare and voice turned even colder when she finally looked up at him. "These people, and their situation is not our concern. We are leaving, with or without you. Just remember, if we leave this place without you, then we are leaving this island without you."

He could see the shock overcome her face at the ultimatum. He was telling her that she needed to decide between helping the people in need right in front of her or continuing her personal vendetta hunting down the people she hates.

* * *

**I should be getting the next chapter up faster. Since we're reaching the climax of the island I figure I'll just finish it before switching over to write the next chapter for my other story. Oh, crap I forgot to tell you! That's why my releases have slowed down. I had started writing a story for Bleach as well. It's rated M so if you also like somewhat more adult stories and a certain blue haired psychopath (If the answer is yes, then you know exactly who I'm talking about even without a series mention) please go check it out. It's called Wordlessly.**

**As always I welcome any comments, criticisms, and corrections :)**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`) :**

**Apple Bloom: Yeah… Marcus was not a happy pirate**

**Son of Whitebeard: I know they are mean to the readers and I hate reading cliffhangers, but they are oh so fun to write**

**sarge1130: Yeah, history has a lot of sadness in it. I decided to give the events of what happened some more detail too (obviously, you just read it).**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

Arianna stared up at Law, wide eyed in shock. *_Is he seriously asking me to choose between helping save an entire population of people from persecution or my own personal hunt?*_ The very thought made her breath catch in her throat. She looked from Law's glaring yellow eyes, which seemed to glow in anger, to Aishe's pleading and terrified brown eyes. Her hunt was important. She left her Family for the sake of her hunt. She left Ike and Raven and all of her brothers and sisters, and her grandmothers for the sake of killing the men who were at the very center of the darkest, coldest parts of her being. The men that cause her bloody nightmares. *_The men who… The man who…* _She let her thought trail away. Unable to finish it. Instead she wrapped her arms around her body tightly.

_*But Aishe…* _Arianna turned her eyes back to her new friend. She could never turn her back to people in need. A trait she attributed to Raven's influence. Her older sister was easily the most compassionate person she knew, the fact that she really didn't know a lot of people didn't change that opinion. *_Not just Raven but Ike too. They would both tell me without hesitation to help the Indigene.* _She understood that with perfect clarity.

She turned her eyes back to Law's and she knew the pain of being told to make this decision was clear in them. She took a deep breath and readied to give him her answer. He wants her to make a sacrifice for what was more important, then fine. She will.

"Trafalgar-san, please..." It was a young well-dressed man that interrupted her.

"Abel…" She could hear Aishe quietly say his name, as if pleading him for something.

Law turned his burning eyes on the man, and she saw Abel's gaze falter. But he steeled himself and continued speaking to the angry pirate. "I understand that you must punish a subordinate for disobeying and behaving out of their place but, don't turn your back to us. Please."

"We aren't law enforcement or some kind of saviors. We are pirates. We do what we want. And what we want rarely benefits the people around us." Law's proclamation rang loud and clear to everyone. All the Heart Pirates looking at him with confident understanding while Abel and Aishe seemed to slowly comprehend what he was saying. Law did not care about them. He did not care to help them.

Arianna could only look at him with silent reservation. She was not going to beg him to help. It would accomplish nothing.

"What if I can make helping us become in your interest?" Abel apparently would not give up.

"As it stands now, no amount of money could make helping you worth the trouble." Annoyance has started to creep into Law anger.

"Not money. Information. If we remove my father from power then I would be ruling over not just the city but his merchant empire as well. A merchant empire that stretches through Paradise and back into the North and East Blue oceans. Part of a merchant's job is to maintain a current knowledge of the people and cities that they do business in, making us very well informed on much of what is happening throughout this half of the Grand Line. I'd be willing to make my merchant's act as an information network for you when needed." Abel's offer was very tempting to Arianna. If Law doesn't take it, she sure as hell would. *_Though it probably wouldn't extend to me.* _She thought frowning inwardly.

Law did not immediately say anything, which she could only think means he's considering the deal. Everyone was silent as they stared at the pirate captain that was essentially about to decide the fate of the entire Indigene people.

"We'll take care of this tomorrow and once we do you and I will make arrangements to establish communication lines, Young Baudin-ya." He said in his captain's voice, the anger no longer there.

His decision brought a huge smile to Arianna, Abel and Aishe's faces. Unable to contain her happiness, Arianna leapt from her place on the ground and jumped the man, wrapping her arms and legs around him in a tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you, Captain!"

"Hey! Get off!" She could her him yelling at her and struggling to pry her off so she released him, not wanting to anger him into changing his mind again. She was still smiling her toothy grin when she stood before him despite his angry frown and the slight growl that escaped him as he glared at her.

"Hey I want a hug!" Shachi diverted her attention.

"Yeah, me too!" Penguin added in. There was hope in both of their eyes.

Arianna was in such high spirits she about to do it but then stopped mid-step and instead rushed joyfully to Aishe disregarding them in a flat voice. "My brother taught me to never approach perverts."

She could hear them groan in disappointment by the time she got to her friend, who was just as excited as the smaller girl. "You'll definitely be okay now. Both of you." Arianna said in whisper as they hugged tightly.

However when she felt Aishe's grip loosen and her body weight start to lean on her more, she let go and looked at the woman's face. It was slightly pale and her gaze was a bit distant as she panted heavily. Worry flooded the girl and she guided Aishe to a crate that was the perfect height for sitting. After setting her down she scanned her surroundings and ran into the little hut that her friend called home, as she did Abel and the three Heart medics ran over to the woman in concern while the doctor watched her from a slight distance.

()

Arianna rushed back to the woman with a cloth that she had dipped in cool water. She began rubbing Aishe's face with it until they heard the woman laugh slightly and take the cloth from her hands, moving it to wipe her neck. When she did Arianna took a few steps back and crouched down, staring at her friend with concern. She resembled a puppy looking at its ill master in Marcus' opinion.

As Aishe bundled the cloth and held it on her lap she looked up and at the men around her, she started to try and reassure them all. "I'm fine. Just felt a bit nauseous."

"Then you're not fine." Marcus said.

"Ah. No. She's fine." Arianna said calmly, wearing a small smile oddly enough.

The woman giggled at the smaller girl before cuddling her affectionately. "Could you get any cuter?"

The small girl laughed and returned the cuddle, rubbing her cheek against the older woman, once again making Marcus think of a dog, or perhaps a cat in this instance. *_No. Some dogs do that too.*_ He decided.

Shachi and Penguin both stared at the pair of happy females, slightly blushing. He could guess what was going on in their heads and honestly he was a little curious too. "Hey. Arianna, Aishe. What's the deal with you two?"

Shachi and Penguin gasped in shock that Marcus would actually ask that while the two girls being questioned stared at him in confusion. "There's no deal going on between us. Friends don't need some kind of compensation for being friends." Arianna answered innocently.

Aishe was not innocent like her though and caught on to the real question. "He's asking if we're lovers." She informed the unwitting girl blatantly.

This turn of conversation held the full attention of everyone in the group, even more than the woman's sudden nausea. Arianna looked from Aishe's eyes and individually met everyone's eyes in surprise. She stopped on Oliver's last and she suddenly smirked. "Would that be a problem?" She asked ambiguously.

The woman holding her couldn't contain her laugh, as Penguin shouted "Really?"

Followed by Shachi yelling. "No! Not at all! In fact we want to know more!"

It took Marcus a moment to recover from his own shock but when he did he realized something._*She pulled that trick again.*_ "Hey dumbasses! She didn't say 'yes'. She just distracted you with a question."

They didn't hear him. The two men were already far gone in their own, and Marcus decided that his attention was not needed on them. Instead he returned to his captain. "Are we really going to help them?"

Law looked at him with a neutral expression. "Connections with informants throughout Paradise will easily prove infinity more useful than a monetary reward. Why? You unhappy about my decision?"

_*Actually, I was pissed when you were planning on abandoning them.* _Of course, he didn't say that to his captain. Instead he chose something a little less aggressive. "I'm glad. They need help. It's not very smart of them to have expected pirates to do something, but they still deserve it."

Law nodded in agreement. "That reminds me. Young Baudin-ya's father is the patriarch of this city. He too expects us to help him. He wants us to tell him where this place is."

"Are we?" Bepo asked in a hushed tone.

"No. The way he expects us to do something for him irritates me. At least his son had the idea to beg for help rather than demand it." Law said that with a slight smirk. He may have been too angry to show it before, but Marcus suspected that the captain enjoyed the noble's begging.

"So Trafalgar-san. How do you plan on removing my father from power?" Abel was apparently done watching the show that was the girls playing with the two men's perverseness, because he finally came back to discuss tomorrow's activities with the pirate captain.

"We're going to kill him obviously." Law said completely unconcerned.

His words seemed to surprise the noble though. "What? We shouldn't have to kill him to get what we want."

"Would you have him imprisoned? That could only last so long. You seem to be forgetting that if you refuse to release him from something like that at all your people would likely revolt against you. You want our help. I'm telling you now that the most effective way for you to be in power is if we kill him and you play the devastated heir who takes his place for the sake of keeping the city alive." That his captain had already come to that solution was impressive, even to Marcus. He went from not wanting to help at all to coming up with a solution that would cause the least amount of risk to their new asset.

Abel looked like he was struggling with this solution, but he apparently came to terms with it with a sigh. "Fine… How are we going to do this?"

"You are going to get him out of his manor and in the most public place in the city, where my crew and I will attack and kill him and you. You will survive. He will not."

Marcus smirked at the brilliance of his captain's plan. *_Simple and effective. The more witnesses, the easier it will be for all the blame and attention to be on our crew. No one would question a connection to Abel, or even the Indigene if we do this entirely our own.* _

"And what part will our people play in this plan of yours?" It was an elderly voice that Marcus heard.

Looking at its source, he was shocked to see someone vaguely familiar. Then the sight of an amber hanging from the old woman's neck told the medic exactly who she is. It was the old herb woman from the apothecary.

"Grandmother Violca. How much have you heard?" Abel asked, but didn't get an answer as the old woman was entirely focused on the pirate captain.

Law looked a bit shocked to see her as well but quickly go over it. "You will not. The point is that the whole city comes to the conclusion that it was a simple and unfortunate pirate attack. Not a planned assault for anyone's benefit."

"I cannot accept that. You were asked to help, not take over the whole conflict. This is our fight. I will never turn away a new ally's assistance but it is only right we be the ones to finish it. Besides if you simply attack, seemingly out of the blue that could only draw the citizens and police to question why, a question that could endanger Abel's position." This old woman was sharp. She had considered something that apparently even Law had not.

"So what do we do if not that?" Bepo asked.

"Captain, may I make a suggestion?" Bart finally spoke.

Law looked to the experienced once-upon-a-time pirate captain.

"Rather than attacking in the city we attack the manor he lives in, if we loot at least some of its valuables than it would eliminate any question of why a pirate crew would kill the noble. All we would have to do is allow the servants to escape and they would ensure the entire city knew of the Heart Pirates attack before we even make it back into the streets."

Bart may be a man of brute strength but it was moments like this that his experience as a pirate captain really shows.

Law nodded in agreement at the suggestion. With the location of their attack decided the small group continued to work out the finer details using a blueprint of the manor that Abel drew up on some scraps of paper. When the plan was complete the rest of the group was informed of it. After all was said and done, Aishe offered to guide them back out of the underground village and told them the quickest way to the docks from the street they exited onto.

()

After walking the pirates out of their safe heaven, Aishe returned to her hut were her grandmother Violca and Abel were waiting. Once the three were alone her grandmother decided it was time for a scolding. "Aishe dear, I heard about your little performance in front of the clock tower this afternoon. What could you possibly have been thinking? In your current condition you need to be taking a step back and slow down. Not go running off for solo attacks!"

"I'm sorry grandmother. I wasn't planning anything, it's just that I saw the carriage and… I didn't think about what could've happened. I just got angry." She truly was ashamed. Her carelessness nearly cost her the baby growing in her stomach. She put her hand over the ever so slight bump that many people didn't even notice, feeling a tidal wave of comfort at the little movement she felt in response, as if her little one was saying 'Don't worry. I'm still okay.'

"Is she kicking?" Abel asked excitedly. Violca left them alone at that, walking down the densely packed dirt of a road back to her home.

Aishe looked at him with a doubtful smile, all the while nodding yes. "We don't know that it's a girl. We could be having a boy you know."

Abel knelt down before her smiling brightly as he placed the side of his face to her bump. "Whether we have a daughter or son, I only hope that they are just like you. Not pathetic like me."

She started stroking his hair comfortingly. "It will certainly live longer being like you rather than me. You know when to drop your pride and do what it takes for what's best. I only know how to act in the moment."

Abel looked up at her with a bit of a smirk. "Isn't that how I got you to marry me?"

Aishe returned the smirk. "No, you got me to marry you with that salesman tongue you were raised with. Acting on the moment _was_ how I ended up in this condition though."

He laughed at her words as he stood and captured her lips in a kiss. It was light and gentle, just the way his wife loved the most. After breaking the kiss she rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him and he wrapped his arms securely around her, as if she'd freeze to death if he let her go. They stayed just like that, loving and complete. Just like that until Abel whispered into her ear. "If I'm not back soon my father will send soldiers out to find me."

"I know." Aishe said sadly, and she released her hold on him.

He looked like his heart was breaking just as much as hers as he leaned his forehead down onto her and stroked her cheek. "Just one more night. After tonight we will never have to be apart again. Just one more night."

Aishe released a shaky breath as she put all of her effort into containing her tears as she nodded in understanding. Then they shared one more kiss before walking out of the village together, then through the foul smelling dark passage and parting at the grate that lead to the street. Abel went up and out while Aishe stayed in her place in the shadows. "I love you." He whispered to her.

"I love you too. Good luck tomorrow, Abel." She said sadly. Then he was gone. She stood for one more moment then returned to her shanty little 'village'. *_Time to find the boys. There's going to be a slight change in plans.*_

()

The walk back from the grate that the pirate crew exited to the ship was filled with questions from Bepo, Shachi and Penguin about Marcus' capture and Arianna's conversion to their cause. Law listened but he didn't ask any questions. He lost his temper in front of his crew, a small number of them anyways, over something that he should've handled privately. It was an embarrassment to him, even if they didn't think of it as such. If he started questioning the girl and she started acting childishly about the whole situation again, he was liable to lose it again. Luckily the girl didn't really actively participate in the conversation either, she would answer a question and say nothing more.

Back in the ship Law spoke to the group as they descended into the lower levels of the ship. "Everyone rest tonight. We'll wake the crew early tomorrow and share the plan with them."

"Aye." They all answered and continued down the stairs past the level that Law's and Arianna's rooms were on. Oddly enough, she continued on too.

"Where are you going?" He asked her.

"The galley. I haven't eaten since breakfast." She answered.

The mention of some food reminded Law that he and his group were actually looking for some place to eat when the whole problem came to them. *_I'm hungry too.*_

The men all sat at a table and looked expectantly at Arianna. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"You work in the kitchen. Shouldn't you be the best choice to cook then?" Bepo asked.

"Ah- Um…" She started shifting nervously.

That made Law slightly nervous about this. "What? Can you not cook?"

She sighed with her cheeks slightly pink. "If I cook it'll be really plain. Not the kind of food you guys normally eat."

"I'll help you then." Marcus offered.

"You can cook?" Shachi asked, a little surprised.

"Sure. I had to take care of myself before joining the crew. Can't you?" He seemed to want to tease his superior. Marcus was a good medic and it probably bothered him to have to take orders from the redhead on the day-to-day operations of the infirmary.

Law remembered when he met Marcus in the North Blue. To say he was taking care of himself before joining the crew was only partially true. "Just make something quick so we can go to sleep." He instructed them.

The pair nodded in understanding and disappeared into the kitchen, where their murmurs can still be partially heard from the table. *_They're getting along strangely well considering what happened today.* _

"Captain. Are you sure about the plan tomorrow?" Oliver questioned.

"So long as everyone can successfully play their part, it will go along fine." Law reassured the blonde.

It wasn't long before Marcus and Arianna came out carrying trays of plates filled yellow rice and seared Sea King. It was pretty decent for something that was just thrown together by two not really cooks. "You guys clean up the kitchen since they cooked. Bart and Bepo, you two clean up the table. Arianna and Marcus, come with me." Law told the group.

"Actually I should stay and help clean he kitchen. Tom-san is very particular about it." The girl said to the three men's relief.

"Fine, but come to my room afterwards." The captain accepted as he led Marcus back upstairs.

Once behind the closed door of his room, Law sat at his desk and Marcus sat in the chair facing it. It was time for him to get the full story of what happened. "How were you captured?"

"They used some kind of drug. Though after seeing that the apothecary woman is one of them, I can guess that it was probably some kind of herb based drug."

"Did they hurt you after that?"

"No. Someone said I was tied up but I was already freed by the time I woke up."

"Why didn't you come find me after you woke up then?"

Marcus' face twitched a bit, he almost seemed sad. "Aishe asked that I hear her out before they allowed me to walk free. That way I could decide whether I wanted to help or not since Arianna already was."

_*Marcus probably would have too. He did already admit that he thinks they deserve some.* _"Why didn't you leave after that?"

"I wanted to. But I wasn't going to leave without the brat, who knows what other trouble she would have gotten us dragged into if left alone. _She_ however was not cooperating. You saw that for yourself." He scratched his cheek at the last sentence, where he got hit.

Law sat back in his chair and just took a few breaths. He was relieved that Marcus wasn't treated like a prisoner. If he had been, Law would have been tempted to call off their attack the next day and leave the two groups in the conflict to kill one off themselves.

"Hey Captain. Would you have really left Arianna on the island if she chose to help them?"

Law tried to decipher what kind of emotion Marcus was feeling behind the question. Anger? Doubt? Relief? Whatever it was, it was hidden very well.

"Have you grown attached to her as well, Marcus?"

The man in an orange bandana huffed at the question. "She's immature, moody, does whatever she wants and doesn't think about the consequences of anything. I constantly feel like I'm chasing after a little girl who's trying to get into trouble."

Law smirk at the rant. "So, yes."

"I guess once a big brother always a big brother. Whether the girl is actually your sister or not." Marcus said with an insincere frown.

"I think that is truer with you than most since you were actually Carly's caretaker." Law told him. He too was an older brother but unlike the man in front of him, he felt no reflex to foster Arianna. *_Or maybe I just wasn't much of an older brother.* _He wondered sadly, remembering how he often refused spending time with Lami so that he could study with their father.

"Captain?"

Marcus brought him out of his dark thoughts. "We're done. You can leave."

He nodded and left Law alone with his thoughts, though he wasn't alone for long. Within minutes there was a knocking on his door. "Come in Arianna-ya."

She opened the door and walked to the chair before Law slowly. "Nervous?" He asked with a smirk.

"No. Tired." She answered honestly.

"How did you end up helping them in the first place?" Law wanted to get straight to the point. He was tired too.

"I wanted to help Aishe."

"How did you meet Dancer-ya then?"

She looked at him a little curiously at the name he used for her friend but answered nonetheless. "We met on my trip into the city when I was buying clothes and after Shachi and Penguin left me alone. I was trying to find my way back to the ship and found her instead. I thought her performance was amazing so I started talking to her."

"Then what happened after you came back to the ship and left again?"

She shifted her weight a little, fidgeting nervously in place and searching for something else to look at as her face started to turn a little pink. "I got lost looking for her again. I actually ended up in an herb shop instead and couldn't find her before the time she said she was going to be leaving her performance spot."

This stunned Law. "Wait. If she was where she had been when I saw her in front of a bar than how could you not be able to find her? It was almost a straight shot from the ship."

Arianna's face turned from pink to red as her blush deepened in embarrassment. "All these streets and buildings look the same. How do any of you navigate them?"

"Because we're not idiots." He said with a dead seriousness that earned an angry glare from the girl.

"Keep going. What happened after you got lost?" he instructed her.

She was still frowning but continued obediently. "I ended up in a big open space in front of the clock tower and found Aishe yelling at some big fancy carriage. It was the same one we had attacked when you saw us. The soldiers moved to kill her so I saved her. After that she led me to their underground village and told me about their situation, so I told her I'd help them in any way I could. She introduced me to a group of Indigene who were going to attack the Lord that is keeping them in their living situation. So I asked to help them attack it. Aishe suggested that I leave my weapons behind and wear their clothes so that I would look like one of them."

"If you had brought your weapons and just killed them all than this whole situation would be over by now." Law reasoned slightly impatient that such an opportunity was ignored.

"I wasn't going to help them kill him. Just try and get to him, so they can talk to him and convince him to give them a chance."

Her words shocked Law, and he felt a spark of anger flare up. "Are you really that ignorant? You cannot force someone into having a good view of you. If you and your little group had succeeded in getting him alone by incapacitating his guards do you really think he would listen to anything that they were going to say to him?"

"It felt like the best option. He goes around telling the city that the Indigene are rats and thieves. I hoped if he actually spoke to them he would see that he is wrong."

*_Odd. She almost sounds desperate.*_

"Such a plan was never going to work. All your group has done is reinforce what the whole city believes. And whether you want to believe it or not, just putting Young Baudin-ya in power will not instantly make the Indigene's lives better. That opinion and belief will still exist in the whole city."

Arianna slammed her hands on his desk and yelled. "So are they supposed to quietly accept that treatment?! Take what everyone is saying in silence?!"

Law raised his voice in anger in response. "If they wanted to prove it wrong then yes! Why the hell could you not leave their problems to them?! It in no way has any connection to you!"

That was when she looked at him with an expression that he had not seen in weeks. But this time her 'isn't that obvious' look was tainted by something else in her eyes. Pain? Whatever it was, it stopped Law dead.

She did not yell again. Instead she went the other way and was oddly quiet. "It hurts. It hurts so much to be hated and feared because of what you were born as. Because of something that fate decided before you even existed in this world. I've felt that hatred. That discrimination. But you haven't, have you? If you had your blood would boil at the way they are treated. Wouldn't it?"

At first, Law was too stunned at her revelation to say anything. Honestly he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to share his personal past with this girl. "Don't make assumptions based on that fact that I can separate myself from other people's problems and you can't."

She looked at him in wonder, but Law didn't meet her gaze. He didn't want her to see something in it. "Go to bed. We have an early morning."

She shifted in her seat as if uncertain if she should, but eventually she did get up and walked to his door. Law had not looked at her at all as she did, staring intently at a spot on his desk instead. He only vaguely heard her as she left him alone for the night. "Good night Law."

* * *

**Okay so the chapter is on a bit of the shorter side. It isn't that I rushed to get it out or anything, it's just that it's a preparation chapter. A build-up. Next time around shit is going down. See you there everyone!**

**As always I welcome any comments, criticisms, and corrections :)**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`) :**

**Apple Bloom: here you go, as ordered!**

**Guest: luckily it was a short wait :)**

**AmericanNidiot: Hopefully you stuck with the story long enough to see that I realized a better way to format my chapters, which was just as you suggested. Thanks for looking out for better writing and I'll take your advice about going back and editing my early chapters. I'll probably go back and do it when I finish up with the next chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16

**I finally updated! I'm really sorry for the ridiculous wait. School started :( And WOW this turned into a long ass chapter. Seriously get comfortable because it's going to take some time to read.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

As Abel ate his breakfast across the grand dining table from his father he thought of the previous night with worry.

~…~

He had walked back to the Baudin manor in total darkness the previous night, and when he returned to the brightly lit home he had been greeted by the plethora of servants who were all running around in a great hurry despite the late hour. The busy servants wasn't the only anomaly as he was also greeted by his father who should have been in his office working as he waited for word to get to him of the young man's return as has always been. "Abel, you've finally returned. I have exciting news. After last night's attack our people have become frightened for their safety."

Abel looked at his father expectantly. "And where is the exciting news in that?"

"To show that we are not afraid in the slightest and that neither should they be I have chosen to host a party for all of the citizens in our home, tomorrow."

This was not good. *I_f the whole city is here that will complicate our whole plan.* _"Are you sure you should do that? Aren't you concerned that there will be another attempt on you?"

He smiled a smile that Abel knew promised something bigger going on. "You are going to be in charge of this city and all the people living here. So it's important for you to know people of a town are like a herd of cattle. They are frightened so easily, but if you show them that you are superior then the monsters in the grass they will follow you with nothing but blind faith. Even off a cliff."

Abel shivered at the words, though he did his best to conceal it. *_He wants something to happen tomorrow. I need to contact Aishe and Trafalgar-san.*_

"I can't wait to see the results for myself. I don't suppose the Heart Pirates would be welcomed to join us as well?" Abel needed an excuse to get to a den den mushi immediately.

"No I don't think that would be a good idea. We wouldn't want the city to think that we consort with known and very dangerous criminals."

"Even though we do?" He challenged.

Edgar stared at his son with a darkness in his eyes that Abel had only seen once, and that was when he spoke of finding a way to convince the citizens to make being Indigene a death sentence. The real darkness that was inside him that he hid from everyone, save for a small handful of the family's closest allies. "Are you trying to insinuate something, Son?"

Abel quickly shifted his expression in an attempt of seeming ignorant of the change in his father's eyes. "In what way? And aren't you worried about insulting Trafalgar-san? He's rumored to be the cruelest pirate of the Worst Generation."

"That's what I've brought Chevalier and his troop here for. Protection should things get troublesome. Don't worry they are very good at what they do."

"Ah. That's a relief." Abel forced a smile but was panicking.

"For now I need you to help direct the staff and prepare for the party. The hard working don't have time to rest after all." His father said.

Abel wanted to find some way out of the manor and give Law a warning but if he made a wrong move than it might tip the man off, especially if he hadn't been a careful as he thought he was. It took Law two minutes of being in the same room as him to figure out where his loyalties really lay. So he simply said "Yes, Father." and did as told.

~…~

Abel had been extra careful the whole night but night ran into morning and he still had not had the chance to warn Law. He finished his meal as quickly as he could without going so fast as to raise suspicion then he excused himself from the table. "I will go and rest in my room before the guest start to arrive."

"By all means. I will send for you when our people begin coming in." Edgar allowed him to leave.

Nearly as soon as he was out of his father's sight Abel rushed up the stairs towards his room where he kept a personal den den mushi. *_No. Father is still tracing transmission signals, I'll be found out immediately. I'll have to climb out the window and warn him in person.* _Abel's room was on the third floor but the vines that climb the manor walls outside were close to the window and strong enough to support his weight, a fact that experience has already confirmed.

Reaching his room he rushed inside, slamming the door shut behind him. "In a hurry are we?"

Abel froze and looked behind him. It was a man covered head to toe in black armor accented with gold. And that was all he saw because within the instant he was rushed and unconscious.

()

Arianna was waiting out on deck for the crew to emerge from the ship. She woke up and worked a breakfast shift like all her days but she opted to eat her meal in the kitchen with Thomas rather than eat with her friends. During the meal the captain informed the crew of their plan for the day, attacking the Baudin manor. Mostly the crew was to just fight the soldiers and terrorize the staff at the manor, and of course taking some of the valuables. Arianna already knew what the plan was so she left. *_Come on everyone. Hurry up!* _She was getting impatient.

Every second she sat and waited for the rest of the Hearts was another second that could be spent helping her friend's people. Fidgeting with a need to do something she sat down with her legs crossed and closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm her tension and opened her Hunter's Sense. At first the overwhelming tidal wave of voices from the people across the island made her visibly wince as if in pain but she quickly narrowed her Sense to only cover the ship and she could only hear the lively thrum of the pirates below her. The sound of her group of friends voices were the easiest for her to identify just after Law's. *_Well, probably because his presence is stronger and my Sense is being actively used during training.* _She justified to herself.

Following the movement of the pirates downstairs she was relieved that they were finally making their way up. Law was the first to reach the deck and when he did he looked at her for a second before sighing and looking away from her. "Don't be so impatient. We'll be leaving when everyone is up here."

His arrival served to temporary distract her from her anxiousness. She looked at him closely. He spoke to her so he didn't seem angry but he also seemed a bit distant. She wasn't sure if she should but she felt like she needed to ask. "Are you still angry at me?"

He looked at her again but then leaned back against railing while still holding her gaze. "Don't stir up something when we are about to go into a fight."

Arianna looked away this time with a slight frown. *_That's not a 'no'. If anything it's actually a 'yes so leave me alone.'* _Silence fell between them as they waited for the rest of the crew to make it to the deck. If any of the men noticed the unhappy silence between the two, they didn't say anything. With the whole crew on deck, Law stood at the front of the ship and announced that they were finally leaving for the manor on the other side of the city. A mechanic of Penguin's choosing named Newt, was to stay on the ship and steer it to a shore closer to manor for an easier escape while Oliver was to wait in the infirmary on standby for anyone who will need treatment. Everyone else was going to go on the attack.

As soon as Law led the offensive group off of the ship the two who were to stay went inside the ship to take their positions. Arianna stayed near the front of the group, just behind Bepo, as they walked up the streets. "What's got everyone so lively?" Marcus asked out loud.

"I don't know, but don't let it distract you. We have our plan so stick to it." Law answered unconcerned.

For the first time Arianna looked around at the citizens around her and true enough the people were all smiling and seemed to all be wearing what she learned was considered nice clothes for Worlders. *_That's right. When I first opened my Sense it was too much but I definitely got the general feeling of everyone being excited.*_

With someone who knows where they are going leading the way the walk to the manor was very fast by the girls standards, especially since she can spend two hours looking for some place that is apparently only fifteen or twenty minutes away. Much to everyone's surprise the citizens were filing into the manor that was their target. "Shit." She heard Law hiss under his breath.

"Captain. What now?" Bepo asked.

Law took a moment to think then turned to the crew. "Go into the party and scout out the positions of the soldiers. Keep in mind that we are here on business so don't make a point of enjoying yourselves too much and don't draw attention."

"Yes Captain!" The whole crew said in response then joined the crowd flowing into the giant house. However when Arianna took a step forward to follow suit she felt Law's hand catch her shoulder, stopping her. He also kept Marcus back as well.

"Arianna-ya, since you are better acquainted with the Indigene you will be staying with Bepo. You two are going to meet up with the group that they sent here and keep them where they are until Marcus and I make our way to you with Young Baudin-ya." The pirate captain instructed.

"Okay. Bepo you lead the way." She said not trusting her memory of the drawing that Abel made up to get her where she needed to go. That place being a small 'pump house', as Abel called it, which connects underground.

As she continued to walk behind the bear she had to ask. "Bepo, you know the Captain better than anyone right?"

"Yep!" He answered happily.

"Well, I was just wondering…" Could she really ask him to tell her about Law past or about the odd words he said the previous night when she has so adamantly refused any such courtesy when the questions were about her. "Do you think he really doesn't care about what happens to the Indigene?" No she couldn't. But she still felt like she should get to know about his feelings on the current situation.

Bepo stopped walking to think, closing his eyes and placing a claw up to his chin as he did. "I think it that he just doesn't want to get involved in the affairs of other people. Whether or not he cares though, I can't say. I'm sure it would bother him if he thinks about it from their perspective, but he also isn't one for sympathy or empathy. Why does it matter if he cares anyways?"

Arianna didn't really have an answer. She didn't want to mention what was said in his room but it's not like she could give a convincing lie. So she took a second to choose her words carefully. "I was surprised when he was so quick to deny them any help after seeing how they were living."

"That probably had more to do with him being angry at you for acting like a brat." The bear said without any hesitation.

Arianna pouted at the statement. *_Isn't that just as bratty of him?*_

"Here we are!" Bepo announced happily, looking around them to check for watching eyes before opening the door and entering with the small girl.

The seven people were all wearing the same black clothes and masks that they had last night but one of them made Arianna freeze in place. Completely oblivious to her, Bepo announced "There's a huge party going on for some reason. Captain said we need to wait here until he comes with Abel-san."

"Figures something was going to go wrong immediately. That's what we get for relying on outsiders." One of the men said.

"It's not the Captain's fault Abel-san didn't tell us about this." Bepo growled out in defense.

"You need to go home now." Arianna said suddenly and forcefully.

All eyes went to her.

"Aishe-san. You need to go home."

()

Law and Marcus walked through the main entrance of the manor and were surrounded by happy civilians wearing what was surely their best clothes and eating what was probably the best food of their lives, completely unaware of the violence that was going to be coming. Law took a quick scan of the room looking for Abel but didn't see him. Forming a mental picture of the crude blueprint that he was shown he remembered the way to the grand hall and other such major rooms that the host of a party might be at.

Luckily it was easy to move through a crowd when the sight of a sword as long as he was made people clear a path for him without a word. Law passed through three rooms quickly, scanning each as he did, and in every room there was an odd constant that stood out to him but he didn't react, a suit of black armor that was not in the rooms before, each had accents that were different colors and a different weapon. They all stood near the walls and none of them moved from their stance but Law got the nudging sense that they were not decoration. Finally making it to a ball room that was the center of the party, Law still could not find Abel but he did find Edgar.

"Baudin-ya. You certainly choose a strange time for a party." Law said as he approached the man.

"Ah. Trafalgar. I was hoping you'd come. Yes, I admit this is a little strange timing, but there were multiple attacks by the thieving rats yesterday and I wanted to reassure my people that there is nothing that they should be afraid of. As a leader yourself I'm sure you understand the need to rally your men and give them a morale boost." The noble was completely comfortable talking to the man that was causing all of his guest to stare in discomfort.

"Yes that I do. However last I looked your people are citizens living their lives, not fighters going to battle."

"Yes. Unfortunately that does seem to be the case, doesn't it?" There was a dark grin on the man's face that promised things were about to get interesting.

Law couldn't stop himself from smirking dangerously back. "Just one question. Where is your son? I've yet to see him."

"He is a little busy giving one of my soldiers information concerning the… What was it he called them? Indigene. I'm sure he'll be finished soon though so don't give up on seeing him just yet. You will have lots of time to plan whatever you want with him." With that the man turned and left the two pirates, one with a deadly seriousness in his eyes and the other had a darkly excited smile.

"Captain. What's our next move?" Marcus asked.

"You're going to find Bepo and have either him or Arianna-ya track down Young Baudin-ya. Focus on looking for a basement or room that even the staff would be unlikely to know of. I'm going to continue through the rooms and see if I can find any other knights. So far I've only counted three and considering how confident he is there must be more."

Marcus nodded. "Yes, sir."

At that the two separated, Marcus backtracking through the rooms to get back outside and Law pressing forward. The next room was a large dining hall which was currently occupied by the remaining half of his crew as well as many citizens with more pouring in every second. *_No armor, but people seem to be gathering here.* _

Law approached the closest Heart Pirate to him, Kai, and spoke quietly. "Tell everyone to be ready for an attack. And be on the lookout for black suits of armor."

Kai nodded and quietly spread his instructions to the rest of the crew while Law exited the room through one of the multiple doors to go into a long hallway that he knew would branch out into rooms that would likely be closed off as they were private offices and such until it eventually opened back to the main entrance. The hall walls were littered with painting and fine decorations that he could probably steal and sell for enough beri to buy a second ship. Also, as expected, when he attempted to open each door he passed they were locked up until about halfway through one door opened, leading to a library. Not surprisingly there were no people in it. *_A party in the city patron's home is probably so rare no one would think of going to a room that isn't full of obvious riches.* _Law understood he was within the minority of people in that a library appealed to him more than loud and crowded entertainment filled rooms. He didn't necessarily dislike them but they become tiring. Libraries don't. If you're bored of one book than you can just find another, of course they have the opposite effect of causing the man to get restless after a while.

Not wanting to pass up a chance at swiping at least one book, Law smirked as he started walking the length of the bookcases situated in the middle of the room creating aisles, scanning the titles for something to catch his eye. Something did. *"_When You Are Engulfed in Flames" What kind of book is that?*_

Law got his finger on the top of the book to pull it out but instead jumped back as quickly as possible into the bookcase behind him at the feeling of his Haki practically screaming at him. Not one second after he moved there was a blade smashing through the shelving and books. As he swung his nodachi into a ready position to begin drawing it from its sheath the pirate took in his attacker. He, assuming it's a man from the stature, was dressed head to toe in full body black plated armor with green accents around the shoulders, chest plates, and waist and there was a fairly large claymore in his hands. He could see the knight tense and prepare for his second strike so Law began to pull out is sword only for his elbow to hit the shelf halfway through the draw. *_Shit.* _Without wasting another second on giving his surroundings his attention Law ducked the slice that was clearly meant to decapitate him and shifted over to his side at the diagonal backhanded slash that immediately followed.

The knight shuffled forward following him, thrusting the blade forward and pushing him further from the open space at the library's entrance. Law kept close to the shelves alternating from each side when he could, all the while the knight blindly swung the claymore any direction he apparently thought would catch the pirate. Feeling ready, Law smirked dangerously and stood in the center of the aisle with a raised hand. "Room."

The blue sphere he opened was rather small, he didn't need it to be big so better to conserve his energy. The knight hesitated at this, glancing around himself. "What the hell?!" A voice that was most definitely female said in shock.

"You're a woman? I wasn't expecting that." Law said bluntly, still wearing his smirk.

"What was that?!" She growled back, swinging her sword down with a lot of rage fueled power.

"Shambles." Law commanded, trading places with one of the many books that had been laid to waste along with many bookshelves behind the knight and her attacks. With the bookcases cleared away Law was able to freely draw his sword and with much greater speed than his opponent, sliced her multiple times with his Ope Ope power, making sure that her head was separated from her body since she was kind enough to attempt it on him.

Of course she was still alive and, unfortunately, yelling curses at the pirate for her predicament. "Put me back together now! Damned pirate! I'll kill you for this you bastard! PUT ME BACK-"

Law closed his room and allowed the effects to kill her and blood began pooling around the severed body parts, soaking into the pages that were strewn about. As much as he wanted to question the woman about what Baudin was planning and her numbers, as well as have a little fun playing with her mutilated body, it wasn't worth all the yelling and her shouting orders at him. Besides judging from her level, either she was the weakest of all the knights and unlikely to have too much information or these fights were going to be easy enough that he and his crew wouldn't need the information to crush them all.

_*Avoiding her attacks were way easier than Arianna-ya's, and this is such a cramped space. I guess I should be grateful for that girl's crude training methods.* _He then turned and calmly walked back to leave the room, glancing at the destroyed pages and shelf pieces that now covered part of the floor. "What a waste." He commented to himself.

()

After Arianna had picked out Aishe the woman had removed her mask. "Arianna-chan. I will not sit at home and wait. I'm going to help."

"No you won't. You need to stay where it's safe. You said it yourself, you going to be afraid when soldiers attack you. You shouldn't set yourself up to get hurt." Arianna countered.

"I don't plan on being in the middle of the fighting. But I will be there when we kill Baudin Edgar." Aishe's voice was entirely adamant.

_*She's not going to let anyone talk her out of this, is she?* _Arianna thought with a sigh. She then turned to her bear companion who had been watching the whole exchange with obvious confusion. "Bepo. Seeing as the plan has already been thrown out, what do you think are the chances of Captain allowing me to stay close to Aishe and making sure she stays safe?"

"Probably non-existent." He said immediately, not even needing to think about his answer.

Arianna felt herself whine slightly. She wanted to keep Aishe and her little baby safe. Protected. But she didn't want to risk making Law any angrier with her than he already is.

"You know. We do take care of our own. Plus Aishe isn't exactly a helpless woman." One of the Indigene men, Fonso if Arianna remembered correctly, spoke up.

"Pregnant women shouldn't be in the middle of a battle." The huntress responded half in thought as she continued to try and think of some kind of solution to the problem of the woman's safety.

"WHAT?!" Bepo practically screeched in his shock.

Arianna could feel her ears ringing from the loud noise. "Keep it down. Are you trying to make me go deaf?" She complained as she rubbed her ears in a soothing manner.

"I'm sorry." The bear said in a wave of depression.

Arianna turned towards the door at the sensation of someone entering the range of her Sense that she opened when they separated themselves from the crowd. She let out a sigh of relief when she recognized the presence only to immediately become worried. When Marcus entered the pump house she immediately questioned him rather than wait for him to say what he was there to say. "Why did you come back without Captain and Abel-san?"

Marcus frowned at her but answered rather than complain about her cutting him off. "We couldn't find Abel. Instead we found his dad and from what he said it sounds like he knows we planned something for today and that Abel is actually against him. He said he was with one of the soldiers. Captain wants one of you to come with me to find him." While Marcus' words were obviously only being said to the other two pirates it was a small room and when Aishe heard them she bolted past everyone else and ran as quickly as she could towards the manor.

Arianna was quick to follow, calling out to her. "Aishe, wait!"

The dancer stopped and turned just long enough to say "I know this manor as well as Abel. I know I can find him!"

Arianna turned to Marcus and Bepo before running after her. "I'll go with her to find him then we'll find Captain" Even though she heard Marcus yell out "There's something else." She set his words aside and focused on chasing her friend instead.

()

After Kai had spread the Captain's orders throughout the crew to stay ready and watch for suits of black armor, Shachi and Penguin opted to separate from the group and search the other rooms.

With their group dwindled down to ten Bart's eyes shifted from watching all of the doors to the people around them. He didn't want to end up with one of his new mates injured under his watch. He eyed the staff suspiciously. Something was off and he wasn't entirely sure what. There was something about them. Not all, just some of the staff stood with a certain rigidity. *_Oh.*_

Bart leaned down to speak quietly to Thomas. "Some of these servers walk like soldiers."

Thomas looked around him with sharp eyes, which sharpened ever so slightly at what he noticed. "Yeah, I see it too."

"We should-" A loud explosion prevented Bart from finishing his sentence. And then another. Then another. Another.

With each explosion the people screamed louder and panicked more, running around in a terror. Amidst the terror the ten pirates stood their ground and took in what was happening around them, granted some were obviously worried and slightly panicked too.

Throughout the mass confusion Bart only spared a quick glance to the crew to see that they were all unharmed before looking around him, realizing that at least one of the explosions had come from within one of the walls. The others must have happened in other rooms. The next thing that Bart realized was that the civilians still didn't leave the room despite their terror. No. It was because they couldn't leave. The wait staff had removed their jackets and were blocking the doorways. Some of them were slipping on black cloth masks that others already had on, making them look like Indigene rebels. *_So that's his plan. Attack the innocent and frame the "thieving rats".*_

He heard Thomas yell out to the crew around them. "Clear the way for the townspeople!"

The pirates started charging their way through the crowds to the line of disguised soldiers blocking the hallway that was the most direct to the exit. As they did more soldiers came charging into the room from a door at the other end of the room so Bart went to start thinning out the numbers, easily swatting the smaller people away, often hitting two or three at a time. Thomas seemed to notice them coming in as well because he joined Bart, downing the soldiers with quick but powerful jabs to their faces and bodies.

Bart smiled cruelly at the man. "Of all the hand to hand fighters on this crew, you're the only one who thinks a punch to the face just isn't enough, aren't you?"

Thomas responded with a dark smile of his own, understanding that the large man was referring to his use of brass knuckles. "What can I say? It's important that they stay down."

Between the two pirates the soldiers coming to try and take the room from behind were put to an utter stop, Bart looked back to see the way cleared for the citizens too. Turning back to the soldiers that had stopped their attack but stayed at the doorway were now quickly clearing away. "Let's get outside." Thomas suggested.

"You go. Something still isn't right. I'll head that way once everything is taken care of." Bart told him, not taking his eyes off of the hall that was on the other side of the doors.

"Alright. See you outside." Thomas stated and left to lead the crew out.

Within a minute the room felt utterly and disturbingly silent compared to all of the terror and screaming that was happening outside of it. Bart knew his suspicion was spot on when the dull sound of metal scraping stone could be heard getting closer until a foot covered in black metal came into view around a corner.

Slowly, as if to savior the entrance, a knight in black armor with purple lines around the breast plates, waist and shoulders walked down the hall towards Bart. The sound of metal against stone was actually coming from an oversized blacksmith hammer with a round face on one side and blunt cone on the other being dragged across the floor behind him. The knight came to a stop after passing through the doorway and looked around. "You're the only one? Where did all the other pirates go?" He asked.

Bart smiled confidently. "Don't worry about them. You won't make it past me to find out."

"Well, well. You're sure of yourself, huh big guy?"

Bart decided to take up an actual ready stance for this, clenching his fists in front of himself. "Come on already, little man. I can't stay here all day."

Not needing any more of an invitation, the knight charged at him, lifting his hammer off of the floor then swung. He wasn't particularly fast, though Bart could say he was fast for how heavy the armor and hammer must have been. At the same time, Bart wasn't a very agile man either and opted to brace himself and block the hammer rather than try and avoid it. His eyes widened and confident smile faded slightly when he took the hit. There was a lot more power behind it than he was expecting, and he could feel his tightened muscles straining to take the impact of the metal face of the hammer head.

The knight used his whole body to pull the hammer back before swinging it around and above himself to slam it down into Bart's head. Between gravity and the man's deceptive strength trying to withstand that strike will surely break his bones at the least. Moving as quickly as he could, Bart took off to his left and escaped the crushing blow that left the stone flooring in pieces a good Bart sized body length from the impact spot. "Where'd that confidence go Big Man?" The cocky knight asked mockingly.

Bart didn't offer a reply. He was going to take this seriously. Done playing defense, the large pirate took three steps forward and shot a right punch to the knight's face and chest who in response maneuvered his hands so that one arm blocked his face and the other was level with his mid stomach which also allowed the handle of his hammer to block the space in between. Bart felt the hard metal of the hammer handle and gauntlets. While his hand was most definitely pained and damaged by the pole of the weapon the force of the punch was still enough to throw the knight back against the stone wall with a loud crash.

Bart was doubtful that one hit was enough to finish his opponent so he chased after him and threw a punch down at the man on the floor who was indeed getting back up. Seeing the incoming attack, the knight swung a broad side of the hammer up deflecting the fist upwards before thrusting it forward to Bart's face, who simply caught it with his other hand. When he caught the hammer he couldn't help but smile. "Not much power behind that one. Is your weapon too heavy for you?"

The knight's helm had broke in the impact with the wall, or perhaps the floor, and it was now sliding off of its wearer revealing a young man, probably in his mid-twenties, with short brown hair and a smile that was somewhere between a smirk and a snarl. "I've killed plenty of piece of shit pirates and marines with this weapon to easily say no."

At that he pulled the hammer out Bart's hand and turned its face back towards himself and swung the cone side down towards Bart. His strike was slower than before now that he was against the wall and didn't have enough room for a proper swing that will allow him whole weight to be used. Realizing this Bart kept in close, shifting and turning sideways to avoid the strike instead of moving clear out of the way.

The knight's expression looked frustrated as he let out a low growl and tried to swing in an upwards motion but this time Bart caught the hammer by the handle with one hand as he spoke with a grin. "Like you said. 'Piece of shit pirates.'" He threw down a fist to the exposed man.

Seeing that there was no way to defend himself in his current stance, the knight released his weapon and slid way under the hammer's handle and moved around to Bart's back. The pirate threw another punch down, with his injured hand, to the knight who met it with a punch of his own. They stood equal for a few seconds before Bart's greater weight and height started to push the man down, so he escaped back a four paces, allowing the large fist to slam into the floor. Bart winced internally as a shockwave of pain pulsed up his arm. If his knuckle wasn't broken before it was now.

He stared at his opponent closely and smiled when an idea came to his mind, making the knight tense himself. Bart charged in throwing a straight punch at his opponent with his injured fist. When the smaller man bolted backward Bart knew he had won. When the man was at just the right distance from him the pirate swung the metal hammer that had still been in his hand at a downward angle, easily making contact with the knight's right shoulder and continuing down crushing his entire ribcage, his heart and lungs within, as well as the floor beneath.

Bart righted himself and looked down at the dead man briefly than to the hammer in his hand. Lifting it above his head and swinging it a few times. "I like this. I think I'll keep it." He said. Then he started making his way outside where Thomas' group should be, examining his increasingly blacking hand as he did. *_I should have Captain take a look later.*_

()

Penguin and Shachi decided to back track into the main entrance and go through some of the other doors to new rooms that they had not been in before. As they did he couldn't help but realize that the suits of armor that he had seen on the way in were not there anymore. And it greatly distressed the head mechanic.

Certain that it just meant that their enemy was on the move, the duo wanted to cover as much ground as possible and took to splitting up when they entered a larger room and regrouping at the other end. And this manor had a stupid amount of rooms. So many of them were just empty space that were only fill with people or paintings, and very little furniture. "So many of these room are just pointless." Penguin complained when they were in a smaller one filled with paintings and cases with other valuables.

"No kidding. And I thought the sub had more room than necessary." Shachi replied.

"Hey! My ship is perfect just the way she is!" It didn't matter who it was from, any negative words about his masterpiece were not going to sit well.

"Calm down. It wasn't an insult to your baby." Shachi was easily the most adjusted when it came to Penguin's excessive attachment to the ship. Even the other mechanics couldn't understand his obsession. _"An insult to the title of mechanic." _The man would always say when this bit was ever pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah." Penguin accepted the words and then was abruptly shoved into a wall.

"Hey! Watch it!" Shachi shouted, drawing everyone's attention.

"Seriously!" Penguin added.

"Sorry." It was Arianna who apologized as she rushed past them.

This caught the boys off guard. But even though she offered the apology, for Aishe they realized, she didn't stop her hurried pace after the woman as they made their way past people and nearly ran through the room.

"I wonder what happened." Shachi thought out loud.

Before Penguin could offer a theory though the whole room shook as four explosions went off. At least one of them was somewhere very close by. The ensuing panic sent the crowd of people in their current and surrounding rooms into a frenzy of screaming people trying to escape in any way they can which unfortunately separated the two.

"Shachi! Where are you?!" Penguin yelled out as the crowd was pushing him through multiple rooms and when he tried to force his way out he ended up shoved to the floor as people forced their way from room to room. He felt multiple pairs of feet step on his body and even a couple on his head before he was able to kick his legs up and around, forcing the people to give him enough room to get up and then he shoved his way through the crowd and went through the first doorway he could find.

"Crap." He said as he held his side and leaned down, trying to catch his breath. Every movement and breath sent surges of pain throughout his body. Getting trampled really hurt! *_I'm not sure if I'd be able to face Captain if I needed surgery to repair something from getting stepped on!* _He thought with embarrassment.

Still panting he tried to his friend. "Shachi! Can you hear me?"

He heard nothing but the echoed screams of the people who were running away.

"Shachi!" He tried again.

"What's the matter? Lose someone?" A voice from behind him asked.

Penguin stiffened as he turned to its source. While the room was darker than the others thanks to the explosions taking out the electricity he could see enough from the sunlight coming out of the window on other end of the room to see black armor with some amount of blue and that was all he needed to see to know that this was a very bad situation for him. "Who are you?" He asked the man in black.

"I don't think a dead man needs to know my name." He answered, sounding utterly calm before thrusting a long sword directly at the injured pirate.

Penguin tried to roll towards his right and out of the way, but ended up stumbling and falling to the ground more than anything. Luckily he didn't get hit anyways. *_Not good. Not good. Not good!* _He thought repeatedly. Getting up to his feet somewhat quickly, the pirate realized that he was in a smaller ball room with one large wall section of windows and large columns lining the circumference of the room, and in the wall to his left a smoking hole from where one of the explosions went off. Not needing to look fully at the knight who was just in his peripheral vision to know he was making another strike at him, Penguin rush to the safety of a column and used it to shield him from the long sword.

Once behind the stone pillar the effort to get there struck him and he nearly fell to the ground in pain. Which turned out to be rather lucky again because where his head was, the sword cut cleanly through what was supposed to be a protective shield.

Not willing to even attempt getting back on his feet so quickly, Penguin used his hands and feet to push himself out of the way when the sword came chopping down towards him. Unfortunately the chop was also followed by steel-clad foot kicking his already pained stomach and throwing him far into the center of the room and away from his make-believe safety of the columns.

"Geez. Of all the targets I get, it's the one who can't even put up a fight." The knight sounded entirely disappointed. And honestly Penguin felt disappointed too. Of all the reasons he might die in a fight, having been trampled by townspeople just before hand and leaving him too hurt to really even walk was not what he had in mind.

The knight stood over the gasping man, who was now coughing up blood, and held his sword just under Penguin's eye. Drawing it across his skin slightly, leaving a shallow, bloody cut. "I guess I'll just have to find your friend. Shachi, right? Hopefully he'll be able to put up a fight."

Penguin didn't want to give up, even though he could do nothing. He couldn't stand. He could barely move. But he wasn't going to close his eyes and wait for his end to come. He'll glare at this knight from under his hat with as much glaring hate as existed in him.

And he's happy he did. Because if he hadn't than he would have missed seeing his best friend come out of absolutely nowhere, and take this prick by surprise. Penguin was purely relieved and even delighted at the sight of Shachi coming up on the knight from behind, gripping him from under his chin and flipping the man up and over himself, across the room and skipping across the stone floor.

With the knight out of the way Shachi went to his friend, propping him up on his shoulder to move him out of the way. "Penguin, what happened?"

"I'll tell you later. Think you can take this asshole down?"

Shachi eyed the knight in black as he was getting up and _laughing_. "Not sure. I don't see my fists doing much against that armor."

"Go ahead take all the time you need. Whatever will make this fight at least somewhat entertaining." The knight called out to them, actually sitting back down.

"Prick." Shachi muttered.

Penguin, however, came up with an idea. "Hey. Get me to that smoking hole in the wall."

"No. The last thing someone who probably has internal damage needs is smoke inhalation." Shachi's medical training overriding everything else.

"Trust me. We'll just work fast, before anything gets permanently damaged."

Shachi looked at Penguin than their opponent who was sitting and waiting for them to be able to make a more interesting fight. "What do you need from me?"

"Keep him busy and when I signal you send him to me and get away." Penguin said quietly.

"You got it." Penguin knew Shachi was absolutely not going to fail him with those words.

After Shachi left Penguin in his requested place the medic turned to face their opponent while the mechanic got to work, all the while watching his friend.

When Shachi started walking towards the center of the room again the knight called out. "You ready?"

"Yeah." There was none of Shachi's usual energy in his answer. The knight stood up and nearly as soon as he was on his feet he launched at the red head. Thankfully Shachi was quick and observant, allowing him to avoid many of the attacks.

"You're already doing better than the other one." He said with a dark joy that sort of reminded Penguin of his Captain.

Then when Shachi ducked and sidestepped an angled slash the knight released his sword with one hand and punched for Shachi's face. Thankfully the pirate was able to guard against the fist and brace himself from being pushed back, but it probably did little to save his arms from the pain of the steel reinforced fist.

_*Finally found them.* _Penguin thought with relief as his fingers started their next delicate job, all the while stealing glances at the fight.

Shachi was entirely on the defensive, probably since his punches and kicks would do little at best against their steel encased opponent. The knight seemed to growing my annoyed with the pirate's tactics as his attacks were becoming more aggressive and violent.

He thrusted his sword at Shachi's shoulder then half way through changed to a slash that caught the medic off-guard who couldn't properly avoid the blade and was slashed clean across his shoulder and some of his chest. "Shachi!" Penguin called out.

"I'm fine. We ready?" he called back.

"Get going. I will be in eight seconds." The mechanic answered.

"Oh? You two planning something?" the knight questioned, though it sounded entirely mocking. _1._

Shachi took the offensive. Striking with a fake out right hook that turned into a roundhouse kick. _2._

The kick landed and the knight stumbled back. "That's better!" He yelled, excited. _3._

The knight restarted his assault on the pirated slashing right. Right again. Up and to the left. _4\. _

Shachi maneuvered around the slashes as he made his way back to Penguin slightly with each step. The knight slashed horizontally, moving his whole body but when Shachi ducked the slash he stopped and swung his sword back, hitting the pirates shoulder with the hilt. _5\. _

"Shachi! Don't waste your time! Go now!" Penguin yelled out. The longer the fight was drawn out the more the Heart's head medic was getting hurt. _6\. _

He got back to his feet and once again took an offensive, circling around so he was facing Penguin and the knight's back was to him, then getting too close for the long sword to be useful, beating into his opponent with his elbows and knees since he was going to get more power with that than fists and feet at the proximity. While the force was able to push the knight closer to where he wanted him to go, Penguin knew the only real damage was being done to Shachi with each blow. _7._

Finally Shachi smiled and circled the knight again so that his back was now to Penguin, the knight's long sword chasing the pirate all the way around. Then taking advantage of his extended arm, Shachi grabbed the knight by the arm and once again threw him up and over him. This time towards Penguin. _8._

Penguin had pushed himself off of the ground during the fight, and was now in a crouched position. With the knight sailing towards him, Penguin struck the two bundles of wires in his hands, causing them to come to life with electricity. Now that their opponent was sailing at him the mechanic threw the wires into the air and sprung himself out of the way with as much strength as he could.

The moment the wires touched the metal armor it all came to life with blue energy, an ear piercing scream and a smell that was disturbingly reminiscent of barbecue.

Then just as quickly, everything went silent with only the sound of the two pirates panting filling the room. Shachi took a minute to catch his breath but then he got back to his feet and made his way to Penguin and pulled the downed man up and slung his friend's arm over his shoulder, lifting him up to his feet. "I'll take you back to the ship. We'll find out at least some of the internal damage that he did and get started on treating you until Captain is available to."

"You better get yourself taken care of too."

"Sure. So how did you get hurt this bad in the first place? He wasn't so strong that you'd get in this bad of shape in that short amount of time."

Penguin felt the embarrassment come on. "He only got one hit on me. I had actually gotten trampled by the townspeople when we got separated immediately after the explosions."

Penguin felt Shachi's whole body hitch, and continue to shake.

"I knew you were going to laugh!" Penguin wanted to shout but he was painful and could barely raise his voice.

Shachi tried to hide his amusement though unsuccessfully. "I'm not. I'm not. And that is still dangerous. You probably have a hernia or even ruptured organs."

"Can't you try a little harder to keep your amusement about my injuries to yourself? Especially if you're talking about something as serious as ruptured organs!"

"I'm sorry. Sorry." There was still a slight chuckle in his words but the medic was trying. Penguin could only sigh as he knew that was the best he was going to get.

()

Aishe and Arianna moved quickly through the manor with the Indigene dancer in the lead. She moved with a certainty of her direction and obviously had clear destinations in mind when she led the huntress through the large house. The first place that Aishe led them to was a food storage room through the entrance hall then the dining room, where she noticed nearly the whole crew was, and through there to a kitchen that made the one in the sub look like a closet. Once in the storage room, Aishe began frantically shoving everything down to the floor and opening all of the cabinets. Arianna had no idea why she was doing that but she help anyways, secretly relishing in the needless chaos they were creating in the room.

After only a minute the two girls had torn apart the whole room and Aishe was leading them back out through the dining room again where the crew still was there but there was a noticeable difference in the way that Bart was standing. Not stopping to ask him what was wrong, she simply continued to follow the frantic dancer.

Going back to the entrance, they dashed through to a different door and made quick work through several crowded rooms that seemed to have no purpose from what Arianna could see in the brief seconds that she was in them. Eventually they entered a smallish room with plain walls and a large desk that had nothing on it. Aishe proceeded to tear this room apart as well and so Arianna help, if for nothing else than the fun of being a little destructive, going as far as flipping the whole desk over.

With this room completely destroyed Aishe paced back and forth mumbling to herself. She felt like she had to ask. "Aishe-san. Why exactly are we tearing these rooms apart?"

The woman seemed a little surprised by the question but answered, "We're looking for a secret room or something that Abel might be imprisoned in."

_*Oh.* _Arianna thought about it for a moment then remembered something from her more recent travels. "Are there any libraries in this place?"

"Yes… OH! YES! There's one very close."

With that she led them backwards again. Going through one of the rooms Aishe had actually rammed right through Shachi and Penguin. The woman was obviously too focused to bother with acknowledging that she just shoved someone that was helping her into a wall so Arianna did for her. Just as they made it back to the main entrance a loud explosion went off followed by three more, one of which was in the room. The sound was deafening to Arianna and her ears were ringing. She was certain there were people all around her screaming but everything was muffled and echoed.

The shock of the sound sent her vision swimming as well. The huntress was completely disoriented. Without realizing it, she was being led through a new hall that, when her sight started to regain its focus she saw, was mostly emptied of people. The walls were lined with paintings but that's it. Aishe was leading her down the hallway and by the time they made it to the door that was apparently their destination her hearing had started to return, only hearing the appropriate number of footsteps when they moved across the floor as well as her companion's panting. Returning but not normal as the loudness sounded like she was across the room rather than just in front of her by the huntress' sensory standards.

When they entered the library Arianna was shocked to see that it was already been partially destroyed and a dead body cut to pieces.

"Who would've done this?" Aishe asked.

Arianna wasn't sure if Aishe wanted an answer but she gave one anyways. "Trafalgar Law."

The dancer looked slightly horrified, but the huntress just pretended to not notice and proceeded to start tearing out the rest of the books from their shelves, starting at the back wall. Luckily it didn't take much to find one that didn't come out of the shelf, and when a bookcase popped open she proudly announced a phrase she had heard since traveling among the Worlders that she came to like. "Ta-da!"

Aishe smiled lightly and then hardened her face as she pulled the door open and took a step in but Arianna stopped her and went first. Marcus had said there was a soldier with Abel and when she walked through Arianna opened her Sense and definitely detected two people, the only one she recognized being Abel.

Taking up her tomahawk in her left hand and readying her right to use her Hunter's Blade at any moment, the battle experienced girl was cautious as she made her decent down into the darker basement. At the bottom of the stairs was the glow of fire light rather than the crafted light that she had grown accustomed to from her time on the sub. When the two girls reached the bottom a person covered with black metal that had gold decoration and a strange weapon hanging down to the floor. Behind the man was a beaten and bloodied Abel sitting in a chair and his wrists shackled to the top of a table, which was laid out with various knives and other objects that were well suited for causing pain. "Aishe! No, you can't be here!" He cried out.

"But why not? This whore led you astray from your purpose. She needs to be punished too." The man in black had a darkness in his voice that disturbed her more than Law's ever did. It made her stand even more protectively in front of the woman.

"Ah. One of the pirates I take it." He turned his attention to Arianna.

Not wanting to wait for the man to attack and risk getting Aishe caught in the fight the huntress moved in for the first attack. He held something that she assumed to be his weapon in his right hand so she went to remove his right hand first.

He stopped her attack before it started by swinging the object in his hand, a short rod with a chain that was attached to large metal ball that was covered in spikes, at her movement. She stopped dead and leapt away in surprise. "WHAT THE HECK KIND OF WEAPON IS THAT?!" She yelled out.

"It's called a flail." The man said, sounding a little insulted.

She regained her composure, Arianna need to minimize all distractions. *_Right now I have two points of vulnerability.* _"Aishe-san. Go to Abel. When I'm done with this guy I'll get him freed."

"Okay." She said and Arianna could definitely hear the woman's fear in that one word. She ran around to go to her husband but when she did the man didn't seem keen on allowing that to happen as he smashed his flail down in her path. Arianna rushed at his arm again, only this time when he dragged his weapon across the ground to try and catch her during her attack Arianna used her Warrior's Cloak over her tomahawk and met the spiked ball head on with a circular strike. As expected, her Cloak was stronger than his iron and the ball shattered following the flow of force from her attack, leaving most of it in pieces on the ground though some of the metal sphere remained.

Thanks to Arianna's attack, Aishe had managed to reach her husband and that gave the huntress one less area to have to protect.

Undeterred by his damaged weapon, the man still lashed around his opponent with it, giving her little time to make a counter attack as she had to focus all of her muscles on avoiding the attacks that would likely be very painful with or without the protection of her Cloak. And the strangeness of the weapon and the metal coating his body did nothing to help her with figuring out a counter.

_*I'll just have to just let my instincts decide my attacks. Not that I ever really do anything else.* _This was true. The oddness of her opponent was more or less the only reason she had not gone all out yet. It made her think about the fight and situation, which never served her well.

A feral smile made its way across her expression.

She continued avoiding the random, lashing attacks until he tried to lash downwards on the huntress. Spinning herself one step out of the attack's path, she coated her tomahawk with her Cloak and using the flowing energy from the turning she swung up and broke the chain connecting the rod to what was left of the spiked ball. "NO!" She heard him yell.

Stopping her spin and then throwing herself the in the other direction, crouching low as she did and cutting through his right knee, earning a pained cry from the man. Continuously keeping her body in motion, she stood and launched herself up to his eye level and turning her grip on the tomahawk, she drove the spike up and through the base of his skull.

When she landed back on the ground, she took a second for a calming breath and then turned to the two spectators. Both of whom looked terrified at what they saw. It hadn't really occurred to her but she was probably painted in blood now. She tried wipe at least her face off with her shirt and offer a comforting smile. "I'm sorry. If I could have done this away from you I would have."

Walking towards them slowly to not scare them, she spoke to Abel. "Do you know where the key is?"

It took him a second to find his voice, but he did manage to speak. "My father has it. I don't know where he went though."

"I can break them for you. Just please don't panic. Okay?"

Abel closed his eyes. "Do it."

Using her tomahawk, Arianna easily chopped through the metal and released the young noble from the table. After Aishe helped him stand the bloodied woman informed him of their next move. "We need to find Law."

"Okay." Abel agreed and they began their ascent up the stairs.

Arianna however stayed behind to try and continue cleaning herself off using a large, oddly placed curtain from the wall. As she did she felt something cross into the ranger of her Sense, and enter the library above. She didn't recognize the presence which she had to assume to mean someone who will try to kill Aishe and Abel. Abandoning her attempt to make herself less savage looking, the huntress rushed up the steps just in time to see Abel being struck with a pole of some kind and sent into a bookcase.

"ABEL!" Aishe screamed as she rushed to shield him from this new attacker.

The attacker was dressed in black metal like the last one, but his was mostly a mesh of chain rather than solid plates. The pole that had been used to strike Abel was the handle end of a spear that also had a blade like an axe. This man twirled his odd spear and then swung down at Aishe.

Arianna felt her mind shut down as she sprinted full speed to protect Aishe and Abel, both her tomahawk and knife drawn, Cloaked and ready. She blocked the man's initial attack and then she leapt up to deliver a kill strike, but this opponent was not at the same level as the last, and he easily pulled back and spun the long weapon around his body to slice her in the air. She felt the attack coming and put up a Warrior Cloak enhanced block with both weapons.

She barely felt the impact from the strike. But the force propelled her backwards into one of the few stone walls that was not hidden behind a bookcase. The only thing she felt of that impact was her skull hitting the hard surface because everything went black before her body could process anything else.

()

Aishe was terrified. That was all she could feel. Terror. Abel was hurt behind her and Arianna was unconscious against a wall.

The man before her. She knew of him from Abel. Chevalier. A dangerous man that was to protect Edgar Baudin. A job he always performed with a frightening level of mercilessness.

Chevalier started spinning his halberd again as he prepared to strike her down. *_No.*_

"That's enough of that." A calm voice called out into the room, stopping the blade just in her face.

Feeling tears fall from her eyes, Aishe looked over at the library's entrance and saw Trafalgar Law standing there with a grip on Edgar's coat at his nape.

Chevalier looked at him quietly. "A hostage exchange than?"

Trafalgar smirked, something that did not serve to reassure the woman. "I was thinking something slightly more interesting. My subordinate, who you just knocked out, and that woman leave. Whoever wins between the two of us gets both of the Baudin nobles."

Chevalier smirked too. "And why should I let them go?"

"They hold no value." The pirate captain answered calmly.

The man in the chain mail just stared at the pirate. After what felt like hours he finally spoke. "Take the girl and go, woman."

Aishe understood that she was the one he was talking to but she didn't move. Not until she heard Abel speak from behind her. "Go."

She swallowed her fear and walked to the wall, pulled Arianna onto her back. She picked up the weapons that had been dropped and slipped past the pirate captain who gave her instructions. "Go to the courtyard and wait."

Without hesitation, the Indigene woman did as she was told.

()

After Aishe rushed out of the pump house and Arianna followed Marcus informed Bepo and the Indigene of one more implication that Edgar had made when he was speaking to Law: that the citizens were going to be in danger. As if to confirm the conclusion, explosions could be heard coming from within manor.

The sound sent the pirates and Indigene racing towards the manor. They made it to the courtyard but no further. Standing in the stone yard was a line of people dressed in black wearing black cloth masks, trapping the citizens who were trying to escape. Standing behind the line of people in black was a knight in plated armor holding a crossbow in her hands, overseeing the situation. The armor had red accents around the shoulders, waist and breast plates, which was most definitely customized to accommodate a full bust, and she lacked a helmet showing her feminine face and red hair which was braided and wrapped close to her head. Around the waist were five short leather tubes. Bepo and Marcus both turned to the six Indigene who were with them, Bepo nearly snarling as Marcus yelled furiously. "You set us up!"

"No we didn't! They aren't ours!" One of the men yelled back while the others shuffled fearfully at the sight of the angry pirates.

"Why should we believe you?" Bepo questioned, his voice sounding every bit as animalistic as he actually was.

"If we had that kind of numbers then do you really think we'd end up having to ask you for help?" One of the others argued.

Bepo thought of this point then looked at the knight. Why does armor feel familiar right now? Then he remembered the previous night in the manor office. There was a man in armor in the office, chain mail granted, but what are the odds that that man and this knight are not associates?

Bepo calmed slightly. "Fine. Then be useful and help those people. Marcus you too."

Issuing his orders, Bepo darted quickly to the knight. He'll deal with this one himself since she was clearly going to be the strongest out here. Releasing a battle cry, Bepo spun his body and aimed a sweeping kick at the knight's legs.

The knight saw, though probably heard first, the bear coming and hooked one of the men in black in front of her with her weapon, pulling him close to her as a shield. Bepo's kick connected with the unfortunate man as the knight dashed backwards and shot a bolt from her crossbow at her attacker.

Bepo ducked it and he vaguely heard a man cry in pain behind him, probably from getting hit by it, and chased after her. The knight reloaded and aimed her weapon with great speed. "Why the heck is there a polar bear here?!"

Bepo stopped midstride and hung his head. "I'm sorry."

"Wait! What's happening?" The woman seemed too surprised to take advantage of the completely open bear.

"OI! BEPO, FOCUS!" Marcus yelled out from the background.

"Oh! Right!" Bepo resumed his charge and the knight realized the fight was resuming so she shot another bolt at the bear and reloaded and shot off more with great speed. Bepo ducked and zig-zagged around the projectiles trying to close the distance. Getting close enough, he jumped and punched down on the woman who jumped away with a back flip then continued leaping backwards nearly half of the courtyard way. *_I get it. Since she fights long distance she trained herself to be fast enough to avoid attacks from opponents that make it up close.*_

This won't do. Bepo needs to get in close and it wouldn't do to trade places with Marcus. Even if the man was better suited for this opponent, Bepo was the crew's first mate. Law's right hand. He can't pass off an opponent to one of the other men on the crew because it might be a difficult fight for his skill set.

The woman didn't allow him anymore time to think and analyze the situation as she began firing off the bolts at the bear. Not wanting to spend the extra steps avoiding the bolts anymore Bepo began swiping, chopping and kicking the bolts out of his way in his charge to his opponent. "Alright. Try these then!"

She started loading the crossbow with bolt from a different tube and this time when Bepo swiped one away it stuck to his paws, which was now bleeding and in pain. More were fired towards him so the pirate jumped back and out of the way. With him now retreating the attacks stopped just long enough for him to get a good look at the new bolt that was currently stuck to his hand. This one was different. Along the shaft were rows of hooks going in random directions. Seeing that there was no single direction that he could pull the bolt in to get it out, the bear gritted his teeth and ripped it from his paw.

The woman smirked as she reached from yet another leather tube and pulled out three bolts. Loading and firing one, Bepo didn't want to risk another trick shot hurting him so he instead jumped to the side. But as it went past him a strong smell caught his attention. When the bolt hit the stone ground there as a slight spark and then a small explosion that threw the unsuspecting bear forward. He didn't stay down though, quickly regaining his footing the bear charged forward. "I was right. That was gunpowder I smelled."

"Yep." Was all she said as she fired off another two bolts in quick succession. This time he grabbed for them, the strong and tickling smell filling his nose. However when he took hold of the second one the same pain came to his paw. Realizing his mistake, Bepo threw the explosive bolt back at the woman and ripped the hook one out of his paw again. In an unfortunate way he was lucky that it was the same paw as the first. The last thing he wanted was two injured paws.

Seeing the explosive bolt coming at her, the knight went low and shot forward so Bepo did the same performing a low sweeping kick as he did. He succeeded in kicking her feet out from beneath her but as she went down she used her free hand to reach into yet another tube and when the kung fu bear flipped to slam a kick straight down. Rolling out of the way she came to a kneeling position and used her crossbow to hook his knee and make him fall to the ground. Once down she used the bolt she had pulled out, this one had four arrow heads welded into one, two with serrated edges, and drove it down to the bear's heart.

Bepo put up his left arm, the one with his bleeding paw, to shield his chest, though the force still meant that the bolt head stabbed into his chest a bit. Unsuccessfully trying to ignore the impulse to cry in pain, the pirate used his undamaged paw to punch the woman in the face, sending her off of him. As she flew off of him she kept her grip on the bolt in his arm so it was wretched painfully out of him, earning another pained cry. Not letting the injuries stop him the bear got back to his feet and was a bit shocked that the woman was too. *_I definitely hit her with my full strength from that position. She shouldn't be getting back up so fast.*_

The woman touched her reddened cheek that was seeping blood before reaching into her mouth and removing a bloodied molar. She smirked at the bear. "It's been a long time since I've actually gotten hit. I think before we end this we should formally introduce ourselves. I'm Elise, second in command of the Black Knight Troop."

"Bepo. Navigator and First Mate of the Heart Pirates." The pirate obliged.

"First Mate? Then it's only fitting that we fight. Wouldn't you agree?" She was still smiling.

Bepo couldn't help but smile too. She's right after all. It's very fitting that the two who hold second in command positions fight each other.

Elise readjusted her grip on the bloodied bolt in her hand and pulled a new bolt from her final tube, loading it in her crossbow and pointing it Bepo before tilting her head over a bit and sighing with a small smile. "Let's finish this up."

Bepo nodded and she fired her bolt, which split into two connected by a long and thick cord. The pirate held up his good arm to catch the cord as he moved towards her, and oddly enough she pushed towards him. Giving his battle cry, Bepo side kicked, which she spun around as she once again used her crossbow to hook his limb and thrusted her dangerous bolt towards his heart, but this time he push himself off the ground and above then over her. She couldn't catch herself fast enough, or rather she didn't try, nor did she to turn to follow his movements before the bear's foot made contact with her right temple. The force of the kick sent her a few feet across the courtyard ground before she landed head first.

Even from a distance Bepo could see something strange about her face and so he cautiously approached her. Focusing his hearing, he was certain that she didn't have a heartbeat. Not surprising since she did receive multiple head injuries just now. "Elise. Why are you smiling?" He asked feeling confused and somehow a little sad. It's just that now that she wasn't trying to kill him, Bepo could see that she was rather pretty especially with a smile, and he was certain that this was one of those deaths that one could consider unfortunate rather than necessary.

When Bepo turned back to the manor to make sure Marcus and all of the people were okay he was greatly shocked to see that nearly the whole crew was there. An unconscious Arianna was being carried down the stairs by Aishe with Marcus hovering closely over them, and Bart was cradling a large hammer in his elbow and his right hand in his left. The rest of the crew didn't seem all that worse for wear. In that moment Bepo understood. "You knew your friends had already been killed. That's why you're smiling at your own death. Right?"

Shaking his head of the melancholy thoughts, the bear raced over to his crew. Looking around he noticed that the most important person was not there. "Where's Captain?!"

"He's dealing with these guy's leader." Aishe answered.

"Bepo, are you alright? Let me look at that." Marcus said.

Bepo's ears perked slightly but taking in the crew's appearance as a whole, his injuries were at the bottom of his priority list. "I'm fine every else needs to be treated as well. What about Ari-chan? Why is she unconscious? And where are Shachi and Penguin?"

"She hit her head, but she should be fine as long as she wakes up. Either way we can't do anything. And Shachi took Penguin back to the ship for treatment. Now, you're bleeding very badly so let me treat you." Marcus sounded every bit the medic that he really was, prioritizing which patient required immediate attention and which can wait.

"Okay." The bear conceded and began rolling his sleeve up past the bloodied injury.

Marcus looked closely at the area. Deciding he can't see anything, the man led Bepo to one of the fountains to wash off the blood. The bear allowed him to work as he was totally consumed with thinking about if his Captain was going to be okay.

()

After having left the library, Law had decided to track down Edgar. It was rather easy. He was in the same office up the stairs that Abel had been in when they first met. Though he had to admit he was startled by the explosions that went off, and while he tried not to let his mind consider it, he hoped that no one from his crew had gotten caught in one of them.

When he entered the office the noble was obviously surprised to see the man. Law didn't waste any time with games or banter this time. He simply opened his Room and cut the man to pieces. Then he used his Shambles to rearrange his limbs and parts. His head where there should be a leg, a foot in his chest, an arm out of his neck. Just some really basic rearrangements.

But it was enough to break the man, who begged to be put back, offering to take Law to Abel in exchange. And that was basically how he ended up back in the library.

Law released the pompous noble, who ran through the room to hide in the secret room that Law hadn't looked for before. Abel followed him. *_Can't wait to see how that ends.* _Law thought with a knowing smirk before giving his opponent his full attention. It was the same man that had been with Abel in the office the previous night. "Room" Law gave his command to open his powers and drew his sword.

Chevalier readied his halberd and charged the pirate captain. Law blocked the upwards slash that came, pushing his weapon away and delivering a slash of his own. The knight sidestepped and ducked, turning as he circled the weapon around him to attempt a similar downwards strike. Law stepped into him and made a horizontal cut at the man, who simply finished swinging the weapon down to stop the nodachi before the cut can reach him, causing some of the bookcases that were against the near wall to be cut by his devil fruit power.

Law tried to press his blade forward but Chevalier simply used his as a leaver to push the nodachi up and out of Law's grip. With the pirate captain now open the knight fluidly swung the long weapon around his body to position it for an upwards thrust. Law glanced at his sword in the air and then back at his opponent. *_Now's as good of a time as any to test it in battle.* _He decided.

Using "Shambles" to trade him with the nearest piece of bookcase behind the man and rather than reach for his sword he gathered power in his hand. Keeping his palm open but clenching his fingers, Law thrusted his hand at his opponent with a new command "Mes!"

His opponent however was very quick and dexterous, using the handle end of his halberd to hit Law's arm that was close to his body. Effectively redirecting the pirates attack from just left of the center of his chest, to cutting through the metal protection and grazing the outside of his ribs.

Chevalier turned his body to deliver a side kick to Law's chest. He wasted no time getting back up from the floor as Chevalier wasted no time trying to cleave him in half. When the initial attack missed he quickly changed and nearly gutted Law, who used his "Tact" command to intercept him with an intact bookcase.

Law jumped back and called his "Shambles" again, this time to exchange his sword with a book at his feet. With his weapon back in his hands he began unleashing a flurry of slices. The knight was moving just as quick though, shifting himself out of the slashes' paths, all the while moving closer and swinging his weapon in a spinning motion all around him. The erratic movements of the halberd made it too difficult for Law to follow and when the man was too close he failed to block a slash that moved up across his arm, only being able to back away to prevent himself from losing the arm.

The distraction of the injury caused the Room to disappear. *_Not now!* _For a brief second Law was worried, but didn't dwell on it. It would only further distract him from the fight.

The halberd's movement was entirely fluid and after the bladed end cut his arm the other end struck him in the ribs like getting hit by a thin metal club.

As quickly as he could, Law opened his Room again and just as Chevalier swung the bladed end at the pirate's head he used Shambles to move back towards the entrance of the library. He then used "Tact" to send as much of the debris as he could control at the man, who swung and slashed at them in defense. Law had a deadly smirk come to his face. Commanding "Shambles", he put himself just behind the knight, who could react fast enough to protect himself as Law commanded "Mes" and sliced his neck in half, ending the man right there.

* * *

**Like I said. That was a long chapter. It's literally the longest thing I've ever written. And I've done college research papers. I greatly considered cutting it in half but ultimately decided that it would ruin the flow of the fights and the transition between the fights since they are all happening pretty much simultaneously. And worse this isn't even where I wanted to end the chapter. I wanted to end with them leaving the island but that would take like another 6000 ish words and that's a ton more to read, feels like even more to write, when you already have this much. Also I wrote from the start of Bart's perspective all the way to Bepo's minus Arianna's in one sitting from about 10:30 PM to 7 AM so if the fights seem a bit repetitive that might have something to do with it. I just couldn't stop writing. It was like I was in a trance. The only reason I did stop was because I had to go to work for the next six hours.**

**Anyways! Let me know which fight you liked best or just thoughts in general. I should have the next chapter up soon-ish. It'll be very short, especially compared to this one.**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`)**

**Apple Blossom: No she most definitely should not. I'm sorry it took so long to get another chapter out, but at least it's a lot to read for one update.**

**sarge1130: Marcus is a good guy even if it pretends to be indifferent sometimes. I was picturing a koala too when I wrote her as clinging to Law but I felt like I had been using too many animal similes with her so I tried to tone it down. Again, I'm sorry for the wait but I hope the fights met your expectations.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Abel felt intense pain throughout his whole body. Between being tortured at that table and thrown into a bookcase there was not a single part of him that wasn't pulsing in pain. But he needed to move forward. It was important that he stand and follow after his father.

The elder noble went down into the torture room so the younger one stumbled down after him. As he made his way down the steps Abel stumbled and almost fell, just barely catching himself on the wall. When he was at the bottom he came face to face with Edgar, who was sitting calmly in the chair that Abel had formerly been latched to. "Son." The man acknowledged him.

Abel simply stood in his place, clutching onto the side of the wall like a life line, panting. When he caught his breath as much as he knew he could, he pushed off the wall until he was at the table and spoke. "What have you done?"

"What do you mean?" Edgar was trying to seem unconcerned with everything that was happening in the room above them. He was probably certain that Chevalier was going to succeed in killing Trafalgar Law.

Abel was hopeful that he was wrong. "The explosions I heard. Why did they go off?"

Edgar waved his hand as if waving away the question. "That wasn't me. That was the thieving rats. You know how they like their little explosives when scaring our horses."

"At least that's what the cattle will be told to believe." He challenged.

The conniving man smiled. That smile told Abel all that there was to say.

Mustering up all of his strength, the young man grabbed for one of the knives on the table, his fingers swiping one of the handles but unable to grip it as his father back handed him to the ground. Abel gave a raspy and painful cough. Edgar pushed him onto his back with his foot and crouched at his side, holding a knife to his son's face. "I'm quite curious. How did you get mixed up in the street trash?"

Trying to catch his breath again and feel around the ground, Abel smiled defiantly. "My wife loves her people."

His father's face contorted in the intense rage that revealed the true darkness the young man knew was secretly there at all times. He pulled the blade back too drive it into his son, aiming for his neck.

Abel held up one of his arms to catch the blade and his other hand found the knife that fell to the floor with him. Not giving himself the time to consider what he was doing, he drove the knife up into his father.

The moment pained surprise overtook Edgar's face time felt so much slower to Abel. He rolled onto his side and off his son with a groan, his hands hovering over the knife lodged up under his ribs into his chest.

Able pushed himself up to lean over and look at his father. Edgar looked at him, and he could see the light dimming in his father's eyes. "Father, I…"

"You... What a disappointment." His voice was fading as well, as his last statement was one of hate.

Abel didn't say anything else as he watched Edgar's life drift away.

()

After Abel emerged from the hidden room alone he and Law filed out and slowly walked outside. Abel immediately went to Aishe while Law was quickly surround by his crew. Bepo rushed in to the captain, sniffing and examining him closely and showing obvious concern at the wound on his arm. "It's not bad so don't worry about it." He said in an attempt to prevent the bear from voicing his incessant worry.

Bepo whined, likely caught between trusting his captain's reassurance and wanting to make absolutely certain of the words.

Law took in his crew's appearance as a whole. He noticed that Shachi and Penguin were missing, Arianna was still unconscious, and Bart's hand was a deep purplish-black color. On top of that Bepo's arm was wrapped tightly with what looked like part of a curtain that had been torn but blood was still seeping through, suggesting a major vein or artery having been cut. The captain frowned deeply. "Are Penguin and Shachi already at the ship?"

"Yes. Marcus told me that Penguin could hardly walk so Shachi took him straight to the ship so he and Oliver can start treating him." Bepo explained.

Law nodded. Between Shachi and Oliver they should be capable of even performing surgery if necessary on the head mechanic, and since the doctor wasn't immediately rushed to the ship he probably wasn't needed by them. That said, he and the rest of his crew needed to be treated sooner not later. "Young Baudin-ya. We'll plan out our business connection later. For now everyone needs medical attention, including you. My crew and I are going to my ship. Come find me there when you're ready."

Abel seemed confused by Law's words for a moment then nodded in understanding. He may have forgotten about their deal but Law did not. It was the only reason he put his crew through this mess. The pirate let his eyes rest on Aishe for a short moment, feeling them sharpen in anger since he was certain that Arianna had gotten hurt protecting the woman and at the fact that she wasn't supposed to be there at all. Then he led the crew out and away from the manor and courtyard.

Newt had moved the ship to a small shore area a couple of streets away from the manor, so it was a fairly short walk. The short mechanic with black hair, that definitely looked purple in certain lights, was waiting for the men on the deck, having already put the metal plank that they used when anchoring without a dock down for the crew to cross. "Shachi and Oliver had to start surgery on Penguin. They said something about internal damage." He informed the captain.

Law didn't like the sound of that. "Bepo and Marcus. Come with me into the infirmary, and bring Arianna-ya. Everyone else will have to wait."

Everyone seemed to understand as there was not even a vague sound of an objection, and the men all went into the ship and proceeded downstairs, probably either into the galley or their rooms to relax. The moment Law entered the infirmary he walked straight to the surgery table that Shachi and Oliver were working at. "Captain, your back." Shachi acknowledged the man but kept the rest of his focus on his work.

"What's his condition?" The doctor asked as he looked into the man that had been opened up on the table, seeing that his pancreas and liver were discolored from blunt trauma and stomach had been sutured while Shachi was working on suturing his large intestine.

"Two ruptured organs and his left ribs four, five and six are cracked. I just have to finish this up then I'm going to close him." Shachi answered.

"Alright. Oliver when he's closed you're going to start treating the other men. Their injuries are relatively minor so no one should need more than sutures." Law instructed before returning to the three he brought in with him.

Marcus had already placed Arianna onto a bed off to the side and begun shaving some of Bepo's fur away from the injury site on his arm. The bear had removed the top of his suit to reveal a small wound on his chest and looked uncomfortable. Law was the only one who usually treated him, but he was trying to keep calm and let the medic do it. "Marcus. I'll take care of him. Check Arianna-ya's vitals and if she's okay start treating the others."

He seemed a little confused but obliged anyways. Bepo let out a quite sigh of relief when his captain sat down to stitch his arm closed. "You realize that eventually someone else is going to have to treat your wounds?"

"Why? We'll always be together? Right?" The bear responded, sounding a bit nervous.

Law couldn't help the crooked smile that pulled itself up his face. "Yeah. I just meant that some time there might be someone else who would need my attention more urgently than you."

"I'd rather just wait then." He said stubbornly.

Law was now tying his last stitch and didn't bother trying to hold in the sincere smile that had tugged itself onto the other side of his face. "I suppose that's fine."

Bepo looked at his treated arm with a smile until his doctor press a cloth drenched in alcohol on his bloodied paw. At that he yelped, though it sounded more from shock since he wasn't paying any attention.

"Quiet down." Law ordered, now wiping away some of the blood, revealing several metal hooks that where hidden in the fur between his black paw pads. He retrieved a tray and hemostats to begin gently removing the hooks. Confident he got all of them out, the man wrapped up the paw and arm, then decided that the wound on the chest didn't need any stitching so he cleaned and glued it shut instead.

"Wait a minute. Before you go I need to check Arianna-ya and decide if I can start treating Bart-ya." He instructed.

Law trusted Marcus' judgment and he had left to start bringing in other members of the crew while Shachi had begun stitching Penguin close, but he was capable of more thoroughly examining her than the rest of the medics. He couldn't feel any obvious cracking in her skull but he needed to check for any bleeding that could be trapped inside. He opened a small Room and picked up a scalpel to focus his power. "Scan" he said as he passed the short surgical tool over her head, making blood glow to his vision. He didn't see any pooling so he closed his room. "She just needs to wake up. Go ahead and call Bart-ya up here."

"Can you please have your injury taken care of first?" The bear pleaded.

"It'll be done by the time he makes it up here." He confirmed, effectively sending the bear away.

Rather than wait for Oliver to finish stitching up a cut running across Shachi's shoulder, the removed boiler suit and undershirt showing other bruising, the doctor decided it would be easier to do it himself. He removed his hoodie and rolled the short sleeve of his red t-shirt up to his shoulder and out of the way so he can start cleaning the blood away, then closing the gash with nylon thread. Shachi, who had been finished, offered to do it for him but Law told him to focus on the other men instead as Marcus had returned with a handful of Heart Pirates.

True to what he told Bepo, Law was cutting the excess of his last stitch by the time Bart reached the infirmary. Just going off of what he could feel he was certain at least three of the bones in the large man's hand was broken. Once again opening his Room, the doctor performed his Scan, this time highlighting bones so he can see the extent of the breaks. Three breaks in his metacarpals and some compression fractures in his carpals. "Your hand has multiple breaks in it. That said you don't need anything repaired. I'll just position and stabilize what's needed so they will heal on their own."

"Okay." The navigator didn't sound concerned in the slightest.

The repositioning would have most definitely hurt but the large man didn't react to the pain so the process of splinting him didn't take more than fifteen minutes. When finished with Bart, Law started treating the minor injuries of the rest of his crew. Within the next half-hour all of the pirates' injuries had been treated and the infirmary was empting out leaving only the three medics, the doctor, and the two unconscious patients.

The medics were cleaning the instruments and beds while Law put together bottles of anti-inflammatory and pain pills for the resting mechanic. Law glanced over at the three men, Shachi was moving rather sluggishly from his injuries and his inability to stop checking Penguin's condition. Oliver quite clearly had an exhausted look to him, probably from worrying about his mates since he was left on the ship and out of the fighting. Marcus was the only one who didn't seem tired but he was also having trouble not worryingly staring at Penguin's or Arianna's still sleeping forms. Oliver too for that matter. "You three can go. I'll finish up."

"But you're injured, and you have to meet with Abel right? Shouldn't Oliver or I stay?" Marcus said.

"That would be better but all three of you seem too preoccupied. Besides I'm going to need to do the last assessment on these two before we start an observation rotation. It'll just be easier if I'm on first rotation." Law reasoned.

All three men looked embarrassed at their worry all being seen. "Sorry." They all apologized in unison.

The captain sighed. "It's not like its bad that you three worry, especially since your jobs are the welfare of the crew. Just go and relax before your worry gets your hands sliced while trying to clean a scalpel or scissors. Oliver will take the station next at twelve-thirty, then Marcus at four-thirty and Shachi will come in at eight-thirty to stay overnight; so rest now." He added on the last bit of advice to Shachi. Normally he wouldn't have the most injured medic work the overnight shift but he was certain that Shachi would have trouble sleeping through the night with his best friend up here anyways, and Penguin was most likely to wake up later in the evening or night. This schedule would give the head medic the greatest chance of being present for that.

They all nodded to that, leaving Law alone with Arianna and Penguin, plus the dirty tools and garbage. He didn't really mind having to clean up the room alone. If anything it was relaxing to have the menial task in the comfort of his infirmary. He could take his time since the shift was going to run four hours. It was almost hard to believe that with so much that happened it was still only 8:27 in the morning and they had only set out from the ship an hour ago, and the first thirty minutes were spent walking to their destination and five back to the ship. *_All that death and chaos in a mere twenty-five minutes. That's quite impressive.* _He thought morbidly with a smirk on his face.

Even with taking his time, Law had finished cleaning all of the used instruments, taken inventory of the drugs, chemicals and material used all within forty minutes. After checking Arianna and Penguin's condition just for the sake of doing something he was left with nothing to take up his time. *_Great. I really need to start leaving a few books or something stashed here for times like this.* _He though ruefully. The next fifteen minutes felt like they were dragged into at least an hour. It was at that point that he decided that he needed, not wanted, a distraction or else he'll wind up falling asleep which completely defeats the purpose of having someone staying in the infirmary. *_Maybe I should call for Bepo? But with how much blood he lost he probably fell asleep somewhere.* _His next choice in company was probably going to be Marcus but he was going to have a four hour shift of his own that evening so he wasn't going to call him. Then he'd call Shachi and/or Penguin, options which were out for obvious reasons. Oliver and Connor were probably trying to spend time alone since the latter was likely the one the medic had been most worried over. Thomas preferred spending time teaching Austin over talking to his captain, even if he tried to avoid admitting it, and Bart wasn't much for idle conversation, not that Law usually was either. The pirate captain continued to think through the members of his crew, becoming slightly regretful of the fact that so many of them were not people he would want around just to have around. Hell, he found himself more comfortable and entertained talking to Arianna than half of his crew and she had barely been with them for more than a month and a half.

Deciding that he'll not call for someone to come up, the man settled to think through his battle with the knight, Chevalier. He was pleased that his Mes technique had worked so effectively in the fight. He's used it before in surgeries and dissections but the environments were completely different. His Ope Ope powers' effectiveness was almost entirely reliant on his focus. Though he's focus was nearly unbreakable in surgeries and analytical situations, an active battle was completely different. *_Just the distraction of an injury was able to waver my concentration enough for my Room to disappear.* _He though irately looking at the exposed stitches in his arm. *_I've been so focused on training my Haki, I've been neglecting my devil fruit training.* _He knew it wasn't that he had forgotten about training his powers. It's just that he usually didn't have the energy to do so after training with the tribal girl.

_*That girl...*_ Law looked at Arianna as his thoughts shifted to her. She was strong. Close in strength to Law himself. *_How had she allowed herself to have been defeated so quickly? Even though it wasn't an easy fight it wasn't excessively difficult either. She should have been capable of killing him.* _An image of the woman Aishe came to his mind. The woman on the ground crying in her inability to do anything. *_If she had just stayed away from the manor like she was supposed to, the confrontation between Arianna and Chevalier would have almost certainly ended differently.*_

Law couldn't help the anger he felt towards the Indigene woman over his huntress' current condition. The younger girl may have a special talent for finding new ways to anger Law but she was still a Heart Pirate in his mind. *_Even if it's temporary.* _He thought, reminding himself of the deal he struck with the girl when the two got around to properly discuss her intentions. Intentions being that she was going to leave if staying was an inconvenience to her goal, and that Law was free to ditch her at any time if she brought too much trouble._*But hasn't she already? We wouldn't have gone to that mansion at all if it wasn't for her.*_

Once the thought was there he couldn't help but consider it. *_Sure we fought on behalf of a deal I made with Young Baudin but the whole problem that led to it was caused by her. She acted on her own and got the whole crew pulled into what was essentially a small scale civil war; all because she feels a personal investment in the discrimination around her. It's because of situations like this that I can't be bothered with getting to know the people involved with things like that. It's fucked up for the people trapped in them but that doesn't mean saving anyone is my responsibility.*_

Honestly, Law wasn't sure what he should do about the girls' status with the crew now. Logically he should leave her on the island and be done with her. But he could also understand her reasoning, even if he refused to empathize with it. *_I need to do something. If I do keep her around I need to do something to make sure something like this never happens again.*_

The infirmary door opening interrupted the captain's thoughts. Koma, a slightly plump kitchen worker with curly brown hair mostly hidden under a red ivy cap, came in carrying a plate. "Tom-san decided that the crew could use a snack after the eventful morning we had."

Law looked at the plate. Rice balls. "The rest of the crew is having sandwiches I take it?" He asked as he took the plate.

"Yep!" The cook said with great happiness.

Law was taking a bite of rice when an idea came to mind. "Hold on." He said, stopping Koma half way to the door.

"Yes, Captain?"

"I have a request for you." The captain said with an excited glint in his eyes.

~…~

Law spread some gel on fingers of his left hand then wrapped them with thin gauze wrap. Between eating his snack and having Koma tattoo the fingers on his left hand with DEATH, he had managed to pass some considerable time. Thankfully, Koma had also been willing to bring Law a book so he would have something to do to pass the last two and a half hours. All he had to do was check Penguin and Arianna's conditions first.

Penguin showed no change, still resting easily and in no danger. When he went to feel Arianna's head however, checking for any swelling that might have occurred, she moved. Well rather than "moved" it's more accurate to say her hand shot to his wrist, stopping his examining touch.

He looked to her face and saw that her eyes were still closed. *_She's not awake. Just a reflex then?* _He realized.

However what she did next could not be chalked up to reflex. The girl pulled his hand to her face with a deep inhale and started rubbing her cheek against his palm. A slight, purring hum escaped her throat. Law was shocked. And even odder, when he tried to pull his hand back, there was a definite hum of disappointment. He gave her back control over his hand, and she resumed rubbing her cheek against it, smiling a bit.

_*What do I do now?* _Law was at a complete loss. He honestly couldn't think of one instance when a girl or woman behaved in such an innocently affectionate way towards him. And this one wasn't even awake. It's not that he particularly hated the feeling of her face in his hand. Actually it was pleasantly soft and abnormally warm against his rough and calloused skin. It's more like it felt wrong in a way that was totally new to him. Like he was somehow taking advantage of an innocent girl, even though she was the one doing the action.

Without meaning to, his hand twitched against her cheek. The slight finger twitch was apparently enough to wake Arianna up though because her eyelids started twitching and her hum became something that sounded more questioning. There was another deep inhale as she opened her unfocused green eyes. She blinked a couple of times to focus her vision as she sat up. It was obvious when she did too because she started to look from the hand that was in her own to his face with an unreadable expression. "Um... What are you doing?" she asked calmly.

"Looking at a weirdo. When are you planning on giving me back my hand?" He replied equally as calm.

Finally she released her grip on his hand and finally started shifting uncomfortably in her spot with an obvious blush. "Sorry. I guess I was dreaming."

Law smirked. "Oh. Having naughty dreams, are we?"

She tilted her head to the side in confusion. "'Naughty'? What makes you think I was doing bad things?"

Law nearly fell over in shock at her words. He pulled his hat further down on his head as he tried to compose himself. "I don't think we're thinking of the same meaning of the word. I meant naughty as in perverted."

Her eyes went wide and her whole face went red as she started flailing her arms. "NO! I DEFINITELY WASN'T!"

The pirate captain smirked wider at her reaction. "Did you forget that you are an awful liar?"

Arianna's flailing arms grabbed a hold of the pillow on her bed and she hugged it tightly in front of her. "But I really wasn't!"

Odd. Her behavior was becoming less exaggerated. Was she not lying, and was just embarrassed instead? "Then why the sudden affection?"

"I smelled something pleasant so I wanted to have more of it. But it was definitely the dream. All I can smell now is the chemicals." She said, pointing to the tray that held bottles of various disinfectants and cleaners.

"Smell warrants that much affection?" Law wasn't entirely convinced.

Arianna still seemed uncomfortable but was calming down. "Smell tells more about a person than anything else. It's why so many animals scent mark. It hints at someone's health, age, diet, what the person or object comes into contact with a lot. Animals with a better sense of smell than me could probably even tell strength from it. I'm not sure why but it's also good for determining the people you're likely to get along with, by if they find the smell appealing."

_*Sounds like she talking about pheromones.* _Law's face pulled into a new smirk. "So who were you dreaming of?"

She seemed to sincerely think about her answer. Unfortunately she didn't come up with one. "I don't know. I didn't see anything. Just smelled something I really liked." Then she offered a sincere smile and started patting him on the shoulder. "But don't worry, it couldn't have been you. All those alcohols and disinfectants you use are pretty soaked into your skin, especially your hands, and it kind of makes my nose burn."

Law felt himself frown. "Something about that feels like an insult."

Arianna's smile become impish with a mischievous glint in her green eyes. "Aw! Are you hoping I'll want to grow close to you?"

He pushed on a pressure point in her face, just above her chin, causing her to make a sour looking expression. "That smile is annoying."

She slapped his hand away and pouted. "Better?" Even her voice sounded like a pout.

"Yes." Law said amused.

She deepened her expression and looked away, right at Penguin. Her face paled and her eyes widened in distress, she immediately jumped from the bed, not that she got far. The moment her feet touched the floor she lost her balance and fell backwards. Lucky for her, Law had expected something like that so he was ready to catch her before she made it far down. He set her back on the bed. "You had sustained a head injury, remember? You can't just jump around like that." Law sounded very much like a doctor scolding his patient now. In all fairness, that's exactly what he was.

Arianna didn't look at him. Her eyes were trained on the recovering mechanic. "Will he be okay?"

"Yeah." The doctor answered, leaving her at the bed to retrieve a light and then came back. "Hold your head still and follow the light." He ordered, using the light to check her pupil dilations and vision. Obviously she could see but it was routine.

She followed his order with a worried frown. "Regretting the way you so stubbornly chose to help other people with their problems?" He asked pointedly.

She looked back at Law, her eyes softening a bit when they grazed over his wounded arm. "Not sure. Did Edgar survive?"

"No. His son killed him actually."

"Did anyone in the crew die?"

"No."

"Then no. I feel bad that the guys in the crew got hurt but I don't regret wanting to help." She admitted.

"How thoughtful." Law said sarcastically, his thoughts returning to the decision he still had to make about her future in the crew. *_There's one question that will tell me what to choose.*_

"Last night I told you to decide between staying on the island and helping the Indigene or continuing on with us. Which were you going to choose?" He asked, obviously catching her off guard with the question.

She was quiet again with a conflicted look on her face.

Law waited. He'd wait all day if that was how long it would take for her to give him an answer and he knew she did have one. She was in the middle of answering him when he first told her to make the choice when Abel made his proposition.

After a few minutes, Arianna swallowed and answered. "I was going to leave with you."

Law was shocked. He didn't even realize that he was expecting her to want to stay, but apparently he was.

"I know what the 'right' thing to do is. And that my Family would tell me to stay and worry about what could be immediately helped but…" She stopped to take a deep breath. "I am not that selfless. My hunt is more important to me than the needs of others. No matter who."

The words made Law smirk. "I'll keep that in mind. Go ahead and go downstairs. The crew will be happy to know you're awake. Just take it slow so you won't fall again." *_I guess I'll keep her around.*_

"Uh. Yeah. Will do." She still had the serious expression on her face that the answer brought. Luckily it kept her usually high energy in check and she slid off of the bed and walked to the door like a normal person.

With the girl gone Law retrieved the book Koma had brought him and laid back on her, now free, bed to read. His head dropped into the pillow and cracked open his book to begin passing the remainder of his time.

()

Connor was trapped between a metal wall in Storage room B and his favorite person. Oliver was very relieved that his lover had returned home with very minimal injuries, especially after the state in which Penguin was carried back to the ship. As soon as they were confident that they could slip away without anyone thinking anything of it, the couple did. Now they were in the middle of one of their very private and heated moments, Oliver rather aggressively kissing Connor.

It was always strange and thrilling when Oliver was so forward in their moments together. It wasn't that he was shy with him by any means, because he really wasn't. It was simply that Connor was usually the one to start these sorts of things, though honestly Oliver typically ended them.

"What time do you need to return to the infirmary?" Connor asked, somewhat breathlessly.

"Twelver-thirty." Oliver was breathless too.

"What do you want to do until then?" Connor nudged Oliver's forehead slightly with his own as he asked his question.

"Well... I was thinking that maybe we-" The loud creak of the room door that Connor purposely leaves untreated alerted them to someone coming in and they quickly separated themselves and tried to even out their breathing.

Austin walked into the room and stopped to stare at the two in confusion. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We just needed a break from everyone. Everywhere we think to go has someone right around the corner." Connor lied easily to the man.

"Then why not go to our room?"

"Marcus said he felt like reading and went to the bunk, and we didn't want to disturb him." Oliver took this one, probably since it wasn't a lie.

"Good call, though I kind of feel bad that Kai went to track him down. Tom-san and I are making snakes for everyone since we had a busy morning. You should come too." Austin understood the aversion to the medic. Marcus could be a real bastard in a roundabout way when annoyed and disturbing him when reading was one of those sure-fire ways to annoy the man.

The cook began collecting food from a couple of crates and started to leave the room, stopping at the door. "Hey Connor, you think you could do something about the door hinges? That squeak is annoying."

"Yeah, sure." He answered, not making eye contact as the man left the room. He can't leave it now that someone asked him to do something about it. If it got to Penguin that he knowingly left something in less than perfect condition on the ship then Connor would be stuck with all of the worst repair and upkeep jobs.

Alone again, Oliver sighed and gave Connor quick kiss on the cheek. "Let's go." He said and led his lover out.

As they were entering the galley they were passed by Koma carrying a plate of rice balls and Thomas and Austin were preparing sandwiches for anyone who wanted one, and the two men wanted one. Seeing them coming up, Austin started making their favorite sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly _and_ banana for Oliver and bacon, lettuce and tomato _with_ tuna fish for Connor. "You two are weird." He said to them as he handed them their food.

"Shuddup." Connor grumbled.

Oliver just ignored the comment.

They found Marcus sitting with Bepo so they joined them. "How are you doing Bepo?" Oliver asked.

The bear pulled into a smile but it wasn't as large and happy as usual. "I'm a bit sleepy but fine. It just hurts when I try to use my paw."

"I still don't understand why you get uncomfortable about anyone other than Captain treating you. There's no reason something as simple as your wound repair needed his attention." Marcus didn't even seem to be trying to hide the edge to his words.

Bepo, naturally, hung his head and entered his gloomy state. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, Marcus. You don't need to get so pointed about it. Bepo wanting Captain to treat him is nothing new after all." Oliver said in their sad friend's defense.

"Seriously, you're being an asshole." Connor pointed out.

"Marcus had been fussing over Ari-chan ever since Aishe brought her out of the mansion so maybe he's just worried." Bepo said to the pair of men, as if the person at the center of the theory wasn't directly across the table from him.

"I am not and I did not _fuss_! She dragged us into this mess so she deserved to come out of it a bit worse for wear." Marcus said it with just enough force that his two roommates knew he was trying to convince himself of it along with them.

"And what do you think convincing us that you don't care about her will prove?" Connor was never one to take such obvious bullshit.

Marcus gave a slight growl and got up from the table and out the galley.

"Why'd you have to go and piss him off? You do remember we share a room with the man right?" Oliver was far from pleased with how that ended.

"He wants to be angry at Half-Pint then fine. But he should at least admit that he's worried. I get that I'm not a medic here but it doesn't take one to know that head injuries are serious." Connor munched on his sandwich as he explained his thinking.

Oliver just looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes, like he was studying him.

"What?" the mechanic asked.

"It's strange when you suddenly get mature like that. So I was just looking closely that it's really you." The medic answered with a serious voice.

Connor blushed slightly. "Hey! I get that I'm younger than you but I AM 22!" he said in feigned anger to try and cover up the embarrassment.

"Aw yes. You're still a young one." The blond replied with a teasingly calm smile and content looking expression, as if reminiscing about his time as a 22 year-old, even though he was currently only 24.

Connor stuck his tongue out at the man, who just continued on with his smile.

"You two are fun to watch." Bepo half-laughed out entirely enjoying the show.

()

Marcus was having trouble dealing with the fact that Connor MAY have been right. He MIGHT be worried about Arianna. Just a little. He wanted a distraction so he went back to the bedroom to resume reading and distract himself. Unfortunately he was not focused at all. Without realizing it he found that he had been rereading the same paragraph for who knows how long and he still wasn't sure of what it said.

He groaned and closed his book to turn on his side and try to just nap. He wasn't tired but he needed something to pass the time and silence his NOT worried mind. Then again a running mind doesn't mix well with trying to sleep, so he gave up on that rather quickly.

Marcus sat up and pulled his bandana off of his head to scratch his scalp underneath. *_Screw this.*_ He decided.

He retied the orange cloth over his short shaved brown hair and pulled his previously discarded boots on. He would rather train and tire himself out than wear his nerves down trying to force his mind to be calm. Hopefully he'll be able to squeeze in a nap before his shift in the afternoon, just to make sure he doesn't nod off sitting around in the infirmary.

As he walked down the hall towards the stairs he passed by Shachi and Penguin's room and was tempted to go in and check on the head medic that was surely there per the captain's suggestion for him to sleep now to be ready for and overnight watch, though he was probably having worse of a time sleeping than Marcus was.

_*Maybe I should take him with me and train so we're both too worn out to not sleep.* _It was a decent idea but then he remembered having seen a pretty good sized slash and plenty of bruises on the man and realized that on top of having been more physically worn down than he, Shachi was likely also already mentally tired from having done the surgery on his best friend. *_It would be best to just leave him.*_

Upstairs in one of the training rooms, Marcus began setting up some of the training dummies throughout the room with some of the small wooden targets that they kept stored in a trunk off to the side, placing them on top of their heads, arms, shoulder or hanging them on the dummies' necks. He stood about ten feet away from the closest one.

Pulling his rope dart off of his waist, he lazily swung it at his side until it was nothing more than a blurry whirl on his right as he planned out his attack. With a quick whip of his arm, Marcus lashed the blade out cutting four of the targets in uneven halves. He hooked his elbow out to change the direction of the momentum and then sliced through another before jerking the cord in and snapping it back out, lodging the tip of the blade into where the eye on one of the dummies would be.

_*Not good enough.* _He thought to himself with a surprising amount of frustration.

Roughly yanking the cord back to him, Marcus repeated the exercise, trying to draw more focus and make every movement more precise. Yet the slices on the targets were less even and he failed to send the blade into the center of the dummy's forehead as he intended. He pulled the cord back, filling with more unwanted frustration and as he did the blade slightly scrapped the metal floor.

Marcus growled to himself. *_"If you aren't focused and calculated, than this weapon in your hands has a way of telling you every time you do something wrong."*_ Words from the man who first put the corded blade in his hands started reprimanding him. The young man sighed in defeat. He isn't going to accomplish anything with the state of mind he's in right now. He didn't want to sit and simmer in his anger but he was doing little more than wasting the practice targets; so he left the room, not bothering to clean up.

With nothing better to do coming to mind, Marcus starting his ascent up the stairs, pausing for a minute at the top where he was faced with two doors: one into the infirmary, and one outside. *_Checking how they're doing won't hurt anything right?*_

He started to reach for the door handle but stopped. He really shouldn't disturb Law or the resting patients; so he turned to go outside instead. Letting his eyes adjust to the bright sun, Marcus realized someone else was also up on deck. Sitting with her legs dangling over the ships edge, and face turned to greet him was Arianna.

Marcus practically ran to her and she stood up from her spot to face him. He stopped just in front of her and inspected her. She seemed perfectly fine, though she had an unusually melancholy expression.

The man sighed as he finally accepted the fact that yes; he had been very worried about the young girl. His relief at seeing her up and allowed out of the infirmary so soon was proof. He lightly flicked her in the forehead, earning surprised yelp, and spoke in a reprimanding voice. "You cause all this worry and trouble and you don't even come down to tell anyone you're okay?"

Arianna held her hand over her forehead, not that he flicked her hard, and used a voice that sounded both embarrassed and annoyed. "Captain made me unhappy. I didn't want to come down until my mood was gone."

"Good. You deserve to be in a bad mood after everything you put us through."

"Hey!" She pulled her little fists up in front of herself. "You make it sound like any of that was my idea! It was Captain's." She defended.

"Yeah, whatever." Marcus crossed his arms and spoke like a child was trying to push him into an argument that he had no intention of going along with.

"You came out of all of this pretty well, huh?" She didn't sound like she was going to pursue any kind of argument. She sound relieved actually.

"Yeah." He looked at her again. "You too it seems."

She chuckled and smiled confidently. "Yeah, well. I'm a lot more tougher than I look."

Marcus finally smiled himself, and dropped a hand on top of her head, rubbing it gently as if petting a young child. As if petting his Carly.

Arianna giggled slightly at his action and when he stopped she looked at him with eyes that seemed to say _I know. _But "_I know" _what, was the question.

"What'd you stop for?" She asked, sounding with her usual pout.

"You laughed at me."

"No I just laughed because Ike would do this too. I didn't even know it, but I guess I really missed it."

Ike, her older brother. *_She misses being with her big brother.* _He realized. Maybe that "_I know" _look was that she can tell he missed his little sister, even if he never mentioned her. Giving the little brunette one last pet, Marcus took his hand off of her head. "Come on. Your mood is better now right? Let's go let everyone know that you're awake."

"Okay!" She answered happily.

()

After the Heart Pirates had left what was now his mansion, Abel ordered for all of the guards to hold everyone involved in the attack within the mansion and if possible hold back some of the citizens who were unable to escape while he was treated by the Baudin family doctor, who gave him an injection that knocked him out so that he wouldn't be conscious while the pain medicine took its time to become effective. So a total of twenty-four stitches, one morphine injection and one three hour drug induced sleep later he was awake and needed to deal with the immediate problem that was the uproar of the citizens calling for a manhunt against all of the Indigene.

Abel found an old and respected guard with, now greyed, black hair named Corbin and approached him. "Young Lord Baudin. I regret to tell you, your father has been found dead. He-"

"He was in a secret torture room beneath the library. I know. I killed him." Abel cut him off.

"What!? You killed your father." The older man put his hand on his sword, preparing himself for something to happen.

"I'm sure you are finding it hard to trust me now. But please wait until the end of the day before you make your decision as to what to do with me." Abel looked at the man with trusting eyes.

The soldier seemed conflicted but ultimately decided that he didn't have much to lose by waiting. "Very well. But you will not be left alone until the decision is made."

"Agreed. Have all of the assailants been apprehended?"

"Yes sir."

"Excellent. Has anyone questioned them?"

"Yes, three other senior soldiers and myself. They are all members of the street rats that you and the senior Lord Baudin have been trying to track down."

Abel scoffed at the words. "Tell them that my father has already been killed and that I personally have a relationship with the people they claim to be. I can promise that they will start changing their story."

Corbin stopped in his tracks. He seemed to be trying to process the implications of sharing such information and why it would affect the claims of the prisoners. Abel could tell, the only explanation that there was did not sit well with the man. "Very well, and where will you be during this?"

"I will be talking to the citizens who were unable to escape. I would like you to accompany me for this. Could you possibly pass on the information to share with the captives to the others?" Corbin needed to know that Abel was not going to attempt anything and that he did what was necessary when he kill his father. The best way to do that would be to keep him close until he was convinced.

"Very well."

Making a detour to relay the information for the soldiers questioning the men, Abel and Corbin made their way to the dining room that all of the innocents were being kept. As soon as he entered Abel's eyes searched for Aishe. She was a known Indigene but Abel made sure that all of the guards understood that she saved his life and that she was to not be to be treated like a prisoner. She was sitting on the floor with six men dressed in black, the rest of the people clearly avoiding them and the soldiers stationed in the ball room were obviously watching them closely. The whole room looked at the two men as they entered.

Aishe looked up at her husband and got up, quickly crossing the room to get to him. He openly hugged her and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek, earning an audible gasp from many people in the room. Releasing her, he motioned for the six other Indigene to approach. He could feel Corbin watching him suspiciously.

When all seven Indigene stood in front of the crowd of citizens, Abel raised his voice. "These people are what are known as Indigene. Nearly everything you know about them is wrong. They are wonderful, creative, inspiring people who wanted nothing more than to have their home back after my grandfather stole it from them. This party that my father threw was nothing more than a trap. He was behind the attack, all for the purpose of framing the Indigene."

There were shouts of disbelief and accusation of Abel being corrupted. Once they died down her continued. "Did these seven people not defend you? Are many not alive here, now because of their protection? Why would they fight their own people? What would be the purpose?"

Now there was the soft sound of uncertain murmurs throughout the room. Abel turned to see a look of quiet acceptance come over Corbin's face. He understood the truth in Abel's words.

"Now my father has passed, because of his own cruelty and greed. I will say this now and I hope you will all spread this to your friends and family; all until the whole island knows. The Indigene are our friends. Thank you all for listening." With that Abel nodded to Corbin and they left the room. Aishe followed, hold tightly to his hand; and they smiled to each other.

Waiting for them outside the room was a senior soldier that Abel recognized as Salomon, one of the men who was asked to again question the attackers. He looked horrified, and somewhat sad. "Lord Baudin. I've told the prisoners what you've asked and… They admitted to being a crew of mercenaries for hire and that it was Lord Edgar Baudin who hired them."

Abel nodded. "As expected. Contact the Navy and request that they come and collect these men. I don't want them on our island. Certainly the Government will like to be the ones to punish them anyways. It takes them a week to get here from their nearest fort so we will have to do our best to contain them until then. And while we'll at it, be sure to release the people in prison for charges of being of the 'thieving rats' people."

Aishe smiled brightly at the words, and Salomon straightened himself. "Yes, sir!" He left swiftly to perform his duties.

When the three were alone, Abel turned to Corbin and asked. "While I understand it has not been much more than twenty minutes, have you made your decision about me?"

Corbin smiled defeated, and bowed to Abel. "You will do wonderful, leading this city."

"Thank you." He replied sincerely.

"What do we do now?" The soldier asked.

"I have to put together an arranged payment for the Heart Pirates for now. I know that we have time before the Marines arrive but it will still be best if they are nowhere near the island by then. I know I talked to the people about how the Indigene were protecting them in this attack but without the pirates, Father would have gotten away with this without anyone even knowing what happened."

"Agreed. Would you like me to request that they come here?"

"No. I'm sure that Trafalgar-san wants nothing more than to never see this place again. I'm going to him when I'm finished. You should go and lead the men in dealing with our new prisoner situation."

"Very well." Corbin bowed and left; and to Abel's surprise, Aishe started walking away from him too.

"Where are you going?"

"To let everyone know the good news. We are free to walk down the streets. Grandmother will be thrilled. I'll come back and we can go to the pirate's ship together." The woman could not be bothered to try and contain her excitement.

"I better not waste time then." The young lord called back and made his way to what was now his office to put together all the contact information that Trafalgar would need to contact the expansive network of Baudin merchants.

()

Arianna had managed to spread it to everyone that she was awake to doing just fine so with that done she and most of the crew, including Shachi who was unable to nap which was what Law had apparently told him to, all agreed that it would be nice to gather on deck since there is no telling when Abel was going to come to them. By eleven-thirty Aishe ran up to the ship, with her grandmother close by her side, and Abel on her other side. Arianna immediately perked up at the sight of an entirely unharmed Aishe, and nearly ran down the plank to her, but the memory of the woman's fear towards her held her in place.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." Abel called out to Law.

"We still have a little time to wait out for the log post to set anyways." Law waved off the apology, probably not really caring for it.

After that the two men started talking about business contacts and stuff that Arianna had no interest in, so she tuned them out. Instead she looked at Aishe and her grandmother, Violca, as they approached her smiling. The elderly woman held out a cloth backpack, decorated with beautiful swirls of vibrant blues and greens, which closed by pulling pink braided cloth cords at the opening. "For you. It's my thank you gift for protecting this foolish girl."

Arianna looked at the bag and gave a bright and toothy smile, taking it into her arms. "Thank you!"

It was weighted and she felt various things inside, so she opened it with great interest, ignoring the way Connor, Oliver, Shachi and Marcus peeked over her shoulders as she did. It was filled with small jars. Inspecting them closer she saw that they were filled with grounded herbs and some with oil. *_Fairy candle, feverfew, echinacea and night kiss oil.* _She realized with a small smile.

"Those are for taking the time to play a game with an old woman." Violca explained with a smile.

Still smiling, Arianna closed the bag and slipped her arms through the straps, trying it on. Holding her arms out as she turned herself to look at it on her back she then straighten herself to face the four men. "How do I look?"

"Cute." Oliver and Shachi answered easily, while the other two just shrugged.

"Thanks." She said, making sure it was clear that she was only speaking to the ones who complimented her.

"Arianna-chan… I'm sorry. You were right. I shouldn't have been there." Aishe broke the light atmosphere with her sullen voice.

But the girl smiled again quickly. "It's okay. Everything turned out for the better, didn't it?"

"Yeah." The woman smiled back, further brightening the look on the younger girls face.

"You'll still smile to me. I was worried you were afraid of me now."

Aishe thought for a second then shook her head. "I'm too grateful to feel any fear towards you."

"You sure?" Arianna asked, feeling a bit uncertain.

Aishe closed the distance between the two. "Yes. I'm very grateful."

With the distance closed the woman leaned down and gave the girl a soft kiss. It was quick, maybe a second, and when Aishe straightened back up she gave a playful smile and a wink. "My thank you gift."

Arianna giggled to herself and smiled back but then realized that the quiet conversations between all of the men was gone and there was silence around them. She was certain she wouldn't want to, but Arianna turned to look at the crew anyways. Every man on the ship was staring at her and Aishe with their jaws dropped. Well, all except for Law and Bart, who were still visibly shocked, Bepo and Abel just looked happy.

In the face of the whole crew looking at her like that she felt her face overheat to the point that she was certain she felt a puff of smoke come off of her. Immediately, she turned away from all of them and crouched into a ball to hide her face and screamed. "WHY ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT US LIKE THAT?"

Aishe's sudden laughing seemed to be what was needed to break the men's silence because nearly the whole crew erupted in appreciative cheers and teases towards their self-conscious comrade. Arianna just wanted to disappear. The embarrassment of this was 100 times worse than Law's comment to her earlier in the infirmary, when he accused her of being perverted. Well, of having a perverted dream at least. Lucky for her Shachi was there to override her embarrassment with anger. "Hey Ari-chan! How about you come with Penguin and me next time we go out looking for fun?"

The reference of her previous days embarrassing incident with the two, and in front of the whole crew to top it off, left her blindly angry. She rose quickly from her pitiful ball, it only took a step to get within striking distance. "SHUT YOUR FACE PERV!"

With great fury, the smaller girl punched the medic hard enough that he was sent flying over the railing and into the water. The unusual display of a violent temper silenced the men, and frankly she was still trembling in fury and was likely to hit the next person who attempts a tease. She turned her gaze to Law. "Let me guess. 'Get off of my ship'?" she asked, remembering how he reacted to her hitting Shachi last night.

Law looked at her with a calculating gaze then looked over the railing at his head medic, who wasn't moving and being fished out of the water by Austin and Newt. He tilted his head just the slightest then answered in an incredibly uncaring tone. "I didn't see anything."

"Hey everyone! The log post is pointing to a new island!" Bepo suddenly announced.

"Awesome! This one was quick!" One of the men proclaim joyously.

"Yeah, but with everything that happened doesn't it feel like we've been here forever?" Another questioned.

"Captain?" Bart said above the various comments concerning leaving the island, waiting for Law's order.

The pirate captain turned to his new informant. "We'll be in touch."

Abel nodded and shook his hand and Law spoke to Bepo and Bart as he returned to his station in the infirmary. "Let's start moving."

Arianna gave Violca then Aishe a tight hug each, giving Aishe some quick words. "May your pups always be running and your blood strong."

Aishe looked at her with interest. "What does that mean?"

Arianna gave her another bright smile. "It's a blessing for a healthy and strong baby."

"BABY?!" A good number of voices exclaimed, obviously listening to their conversation and probably hoping for something else shock worthy in their eyes to happen.

"Good bye, Arianna-chan." At that the three islanders left the ship and watched as the Heart Pirates set sail.

* * *

**Yay, island done! Starting a new island is exciting, so in other words I get bored with the place by the time we need to move on :P**

**Anyways, I'm sorry to say I will be taking a couple of months off from our story. NO, NO. I'm not leaving for good or even all that long! Just a two or so months. I should be back to writing for you in late December or early January. I just need to give my other story some love. It's been so lonely. Just shivering out in the cold. Neglected :(**

**Since it's the end of an island/arc (whatever you want to refer to it as) let me know as a whole on it what you think. I really do take it all into consideration when writing so if I did something you didn't like (too much POV changes, not enough POV changes, want to see more of one character, etc.) say so and I will try and come up with something to make everyone happy.**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`):**

**Apple Bloom: Thank you! I'm sorry you're going to have to wait a little longer than normal but you will get a lot more chapters from this story.**

**Son of Whitebeard: yes it is. I want him to have his moments to shine too, so there will be more. I promise.**

**AllyCatt12: thank you!**

**sarge1130: Thanks. Like I said I actually wrote most of those scenes in one go. And yeah, our boys (plus Arianna) can handle the unexpected when needed. I just feel like Law doesn't like unexpected things, that's while he plans. Getting stepped on did little for Penguin's ego. At least Law didn't hear about how he got hurt, his captain hearing about such an embarrassing injury would have been the biggest blow of all. I want Bepo to shine in his own "I'm sorry" way. It didn't show very well, considering how quickly the top guy took her out, but Arianna is pretty strong and most of her opponents don't/won't expect her to be because she looks about as threatening as a lap dog. Though lap dogs are kinda vicious ^^' I was worried I didn't make it clear in that chapter about Law's use of Mes, so hopefully this one cleared it up. He's used it before, just not in battle.**

**L.t. tiger : Oh sweetie, you missed chapter releases? Well at least it's not like they go away after a certain amount of time so when you get to them you get to them. Death by electrocution was your favorite huh? That one almost didn't happen at all. I had the duo separated for their fights but then went back and rewrote it so that they would be together. Even then it was another one or two rewrites before I came up with the electrocution idea. And Bepo's opponent seemed like it would be the most appropriate for a bit of a humanity check on the island's bad guys. But not Edgar. He gets no humanity! :(**

**About Jean Bart's hammer. I only did that because I wanted one less character to have to come up with hand-to-hand fights for. They get monotonous. It's me being lazy. But good things can come from laziness too. ;)**

**I knew someone was going to say something about how fast Arianna went down because you're right. She is about as strong as Law, but I did it anyways. I just wanted her sleeping in the infirmary for any reason for her and Law's scene together. I tried not to make it too out of place but I was craving a fluffy scene for them.**

**Yes! My puzzle piece chapter was a success. (That's literally what I was calling it while writing it too)**

**Back to the Poneglyph issue. My theory concerning the true history is that that slab is at the last island with One Piece, since so far all of the ones Robin's found have been depicting ancient weapons. But yeah. The Straw Hats will show up. Eventually.**

**Yes. Arianna is a child in Marcus' eyes. Actually the food bribe was more because I had be depicting her as a bit of a glutton. Don't worry about missing releases. Like I said, it's not like they go away or anything :)**

**wolfgurlaa: Thanks for complimenting the story :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm back lovelies! For anyone who noticed, and those who didn't, I upped the rating to mature. It isn't that I feel anything that I've written is mature, it's that I really wanted to go into more detail in the fights and blood and I have a few ideas for future chapters that would never pass a teen rating that made me change the rating. Also when I went back and reread my previous chapters through the website I saw that there were sentences cut off that weren't me failing to write them, among the awful quality of writing that was mine, so I just wanted to say thank you for being able to get through that shit to get to here.**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

Arianna knocked on a door and waited for the answer. This time it was Austin who opened it. He looked at her a bit surprised. "Did you need something?"

She should've known that that was the young cook behind the door; she spent plenty of time in the kitchen with him and knows his presence. "No. I, um… Sorry. I'm looking for Kalas' room."

He raised an eyebrow before turning her around by the shoulders so she was facing the door directly across from his and patted her on the shoulder a few times before closing his door again.

"Thanks." She said towards the door. Maybe he heard her.

This time knocking on the correct door, Arianna was greeted by a grinning red-head. "Finally made it I see."

Arianna laughed nervously. "I couldn't remember which room it was."

"It's fine." He chuckled.

The young huntress had to admit, Kalas was fun to be around. He had always been happy and laughing, at least when she saw him. If there was one reason she doesn't think she'd spend more time with him it would have to be that he seems to be good friends with Clyde. Arianna didn't understand why the man bullies Bepo but she wasn't going to overlook it when choosing who she spends time with.

While she thought about all of this, Kalas was digging through a tall cabinet, a wardrobe he called it, and pulled out a small white boiler suite. "Here you go."

The girl took the suite and looked at him. "You need to try it on now." He told her.

"Wait. Now? Why?" She was supposed to change in front of him? That was not going to happen.

"Well I need to make sure it doesn't need any adjustments. The whole point of me sizing each person's is so that they are a perfect fit."

She continued to stare at him without saying anything, mostly because she was trying to figure out how to tell him to get out of his own room.

"Oh I get it." He said proudly, then stepped into the wardrobe and closed the doors behind him. "You can go ahead now."

Arianna laughed at the silliness that actually surpassed hers and got changed. The white suite did fit her perfectly in her opinion. Unfortunately, she wasn't a fan of it. She knocked on the wardrobe door so that the goofy tailor would get out and take a look.

Kalas inspected the sleeves and pant legs, the waist and chest before declaring what she already figured; the sizing was perfect. "Alright! Last part of the uniform is the boots."

"Okay…" She wasn't sure how this was going to go.

Kalas handed her a tall pair of socks, something she had never worn, and a pair a little boot just like what everyone else had. Sitting on a bed that faced the mirror that hung from the inside of the wardrobe door, Arianna clearly fumbled with getting the socks on and, not realizing she needed to loosen the laces at first, could barely figure out how to put on the shoes. When she got them on she looked at herself in the mirror. The only visible traces of her as a Tribesman were her orange-painted fang earrings. She truly found what she saw almost disturbing. Like the revealing that she looked just like any Worlder without her furs, grass and leather was the greatest shock in the world. She didn't hate Worlders, but she would certainly hate to be one.

"You know. You'd get a better view if you stood up." Kalas offered helpfully.

She nodded and tried to smile. The huntress pushed herself off the bed and stood. …For about a second. She almost immediately fell over and would've landed face first had she not caught the ground with her hand.

"What happened?!" Kalas was very shocked and probably a bit concerned.

"I'm fine. I just lost my… Um…" Why couldn't she think of the word?

"Balance?" The red-head offered helpfully, as he offered his hand at the same time.

"Yeah. That."

As soon as he let her go she felt herself become unstable again and tried to get back to the bed before she fell again but fell face first into it instead. Now she was just getting annoyed.

"AGAIN?!" Kalas shouted.

"I'm fine." Arianna said, not bothering to lift her face from the mattress.

"You had a head injury back on Beau Jardin right? Maybe you should have Captain check you out again." The usually happy man was clearly worried.

"Huh? That was a week ago. My head's fine. It's these shoes."

"Seriously?" He sounded uncertain about her reason.

"Yeah." She said as she yanked them off. To prove her point she stood up barefoot and clearly had no trouble holding herself upright. Before sitting back down to put her little shoes with tassles back on.

"How can you lose your balance in boots with barely any heel?" He didn't sound convinced.

"I've only ever worn flat ones." She told him, lifting her foot up high as if it would prove her point by putting her shoe in his face.

"Amazing." He was stunned.

"I'm just going to wear my shoes."

"Probably best."

Arianna gathered her clothes. "Thank you, Kalas." She said with a smile.

He smirked back at her and said, "My pleasure." Waving to her as she left the room.

Arianna sighed. *_Okay time for lunch duty.*_

()

Shachi and Penguin entered the galley for lunch. After getting their food, a bowl tuna pasta, they sat down at their table and saw a surprising site: Arianna wearing the Heart Pirates boiler suit. "Ari-chan! You're wearing our uniform?!" Penguin exclaimed excitedly.

Shachi was smiling madly in his happiness, "It looks so cute on you!"

The cute girl in question was keeping her chin propped up on a loose fist, and was frowning slightly, mumbled. "Thanks."

"You guys are idiots. You do realize you're complimenting her on something she doesn't like." Marcus said bluntly.

"Who asked you? And don't come sneaking up and joining in on our conversations!" Shachi hissed out as Penguin tried to stare menacingly at the man who dared to interrupt.

"Umm. We've been here since before you sat down." Bepo, who was sitting right next to Arianna, said.

"What makes you so sure Ari-chan doesn't like wearing our uniform? I'm sure she does. Right, Ari-chan?" Penguin looked to her and smiled, waiting for his confirmation.

"I don't like wearing this." She revealed rather flatly.

"AHH?! How could you not?" The red head cried out.

"Yeah! It shows your Heart Pirate pride!" his partner said, equally loudly.

"It's white and it keeps my arm covered." She explained vaguely with a hint of her 'Isn't it obvious look'.

"Yeah… You're going to need to give us a little more than that for an explanation." Marcus pointed out.

"White is too noticeable of a color. If I was hunting, my prey would spot me before I've even figured out how I'm going to get to it. And unless it's too cold for it, Tribesman are supposed leave their armbands exposed." Arianna said, giving her reasons a bit more depth.

"Is that so?" A new voice invaded the group.

"Captain!" Bepo cheered happily at the man's presence, especially when he sat down across from him, next to Marcus.

"You shouldn't complain about the boiler suite after Kalas had fitted it just for you." Law didn't necessarily sound like he was bothered by her complaints. If anything he sounded a bit bored.

"I'm wearing it, aren't I?" She grumbled and looked away from him.

"What's so important about a few armbands anyways?" Marcus asked, more curious about that reason of the two.

"Um…" Arianna seemed a bit confused and looked like she was thinking hard, making the whole table that extra bit more curious about it. Was it part of some big secret about inner working of her people's social system, which the pirates still knew virtually nothing about?

"They show…" She was clearly considering her words carefully; adding to the now almost impatient tension that fell on the table. Until a look of realization came over Arianna and her raised index flew next to her face to indicate something just came to her.

"Rank! They show rank in a Tribe." She announced with a proud smile; culminating in a huge let-down to the table.

"All that build up for you to say 'rank'?" Penguin complained.

Arianna crossed her arms and looked away with a pouty face. "I couldn't think of the right word."

"So does that mean you're ranked third in your Tribe?" Bepo asked.

"It isn't like that. Rank is just the best word for it but there are really only six of them."

"So, how many armbands you have is a sign of your rank?" Law pressed.

"Yep! Having none means you haven't done any type of training and only babies are there. One is when we learning to hunt, clean kills and make furs. Two is when a child is considered an adult; it's when we are trusted to go on hunts alone. When we reach Hunter rank we are given their adult name by the chief and a Hunter's Blade to keep. Three is the Warrior rank. We kill any threats to the Family. And then there is the Chief. The Chief is the strongest in the Family and is the one who decides when someone is ready to move on to a new armband. The last one is more of a story since no one has reached in… Honestly I'm not sure how long." Arianna gave her explanation of the Tribal ranking system with a proud smile on her face.

"That means you're considered a Warrior in your Tribe, right? That's pretty cool." Shachi seemed to be impressed.

"Is it really that impressive? If you weren't considered an adult until one rank below that then wouldn't it be normal for nearly everyone to become a Warrior?" Law was quick to point out the likelihood that her rank was common.

"Captain!" Shachi shouted, upset at the man's rudeness.

"And considering how quickly you went down in that fight back on Beau Jardin, I'm willing to bet you aren't even strong amongst your people."

Shachi and Penguin huddled together in fear while Marcus tensed up with a stunned expression and Bepo was trembling as they all awaited Arianna's response to Law's words.

The girl's eyes sharpened as she glared at the captain. When she changed her expression it became a dark toothy smile that looked suspiciously like it was to show off her fangs rather than look nice. "Well. If I'm so weak then I guess there is no need for me to keep going easy on you with our training together. Is there?"

"Is that what you think you were doing all this time?" Law challenged.

Arianna's eyes darkened even more and the vibrant green that usually invoked thoughts of a forest from some kind of fairy tale looked more like the dark woods that people are always warned against entering. The air was noticeably colder and Marcus couldn't help the feeling that they were looking at an angry predator, not the childlike Arianna that he had grown to appreciate. Law saw it too and even though it was barely noticeable he had definitely readied himself for something to happen.

The tense, dangerous air that she was exuding disappeared more suddenly than it came on though. She seemed almost surprised at what the situation had become and relaxed, her eyes softening almost back to their vibrant green. "Sorry. I really miss my fur."

Her sudden topic transition nearly made Marcus slam his face on the table. Instead he reached over the table and smacked her across her head, earning a loud _thunk _noise and a loud yelp from the girl. "You're seriously going to act this touchy because you miss wearing dead animals!"

Arianna looked at him, a little teary-eyed from the pain, and complained. "But to me they're bits of Home."

"But… You said Tribes are always traveling. How do you have a home if you're never in one place for long?" Bepo questioned.

"Was 'Home' not the right word?" She seemed uncertain now.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Penguin asked.

"Where you feel happy and safe and are surrounded by people you love and love you. Is that not a Home?" The way she was speaking sound different from normal, like she was questioning what she was saying but in a weird way.

"No. That's a great way of describing a home." Marcus truly wasn't sure what else to say. No one seemed to know.

Arianna bent down to rest her chin on the table when Marcus answered, looking a little sad.

"What's wrong?" It was Law who decided to just go ahead and ask the girl why she was really so down.

"Hmm." She didn't answer or even look at him.

"If you were just homesick, fine but you didn't get this way just because you aren't wearing something." He pushed.

She took an extra second but this time she did look up and mumbled something incoherently, making Law raise an eyebrow expectantly.

She pulled her head off the table, though was still slouched over, and spoke clearly. "The Bloodmoon is tonight." Already knowing that they would need an explanation she took a breath and continued before someone could ask. "All of the Tribes get together every year when the moon is red. This is the third year I'm going to miss it."

Done speaking, Arianna put her head down, this time burying her face in her arms. Shachi leaned in towards Marcus to speaking quietly. "I'm willing to bet there's another reason why she's so moody too."

The medic looked at her then back to the other medic. "Yeah, probably."

"You know if that's the case you two probably shouldn't go pointing it out." Law quietly reminded them.

"I'm going to my room." They heard the girl say as she got up from the table and walked out the galley, leaving behind her untouched lunch.

"Poor Ari-chan. She's really missing her family right now." Penguin said when she was completely out of the room.

"Hmm. I wish there was something we can do for her." Shachi crossed his arms as he tried to think of a solution.

Marcus had gone back to eating but still gave his opinion. "We'll be at an island soon. That will help cheer her up."

"Half-pint needs to be cheered up?" Connor, who had only now made it to the table with Oliver, asked.

"Where've you two been?" The sitting mechanic asked.

"We tried to come over before but things were looking pretty tense so we thought it would be best to wait." Oliver explained.

"You guys noticed that, huh?" Marcus asked.

"The whole room did." The blond revealed.

"Ari-chan looked really scary." Bepo said weakly.

Law glared into his food while the other three men who were present nodded in agreement.

()

Arianna walked quickly towards the stairs to go up to her room. She wanted to be alone. After all; who knows if she'll be able to handle getting worked up again. She didn't mean to react the way she did, it's just with the Bloodmoon coming she had been thinking about her Family more than normal, which lead to more nightmares, and it's been wearing her down and making her slip in ways she hasn't slipped in a long time. *_Forgetting words and letting my anger take over like that. I even practically told Law that he's weaker than me in front of the boys. I'm pretty sure the whole galley was watching by then too.*_

She sighed and mumbled to herself, "Tuh'd muca ed." _("Don't lose it.")_

Just as she made it to the stairs she came face to face with Bart, wearing his new boiler suit as well, who was coming up from the control room. "Ah. Excuse me Bart-san."

That the man dwarfed her was more apparent than ever now with them standing face to face.

"Yassun. Actually I wanted a favor from you." He said, stopping her.

Arianna looked at him feeling slightly confused. "Why'd you call me Yassun?" Was that how he always referred to her? They've never really spoken, so she's not sure.

"Just because we are crewmates doesn't mean we need to be friends or anything that personal." He claimed.

_*And yet, you want to ask me a favor?* _She questioned internally.

"That's fine but Yassun isn't really any kind of name to be said. It's a claim of where I was born. If it's to be polite than Leya would be what you would call me." She explained. Maybe one day she won't have to be around people that she has to stop and explain her name to.

"Alright, Leya. Bepo told me you were skilled with leather workings, I wanted to ask if you could fasten me something to carry my hammer?"

While Arianna had not seen his newly acquired weapon she had heard about it, and that it looked like it was sized perfectly for the large man. It likely had a heavy weight to go along with it too. "Probably. I would need more skins though. I plan to go hunting when we get to land, so I might be able to get enough then." She wouldn't mind doing it but she wasn't going to promise being able to get what she needed without seeing what she had to hunt from.

Bart didn't seem bothered by her agreement that also lacked commitment, and smiled his thanks before continuing on the direction she was leaving from. How ironic. On the one day a year that all the Tribes get together, on the day that not a single one of her people were alone, she was going to sit in a room and avoid other people. At least they were expecting to get to an island today. Maybe hunting will cheer her up. Assuming there is prey to be hunted wherever they land.

Before she even realized she even started walking up the stairs she was already in front of her door. When she entered the room Arianna decided to try and banish thoughts about Bloodmoon and focus on moving forward and completing her hunt so that she will no longer miss anymore. *_Once they're dead, I'll get to go back to my Family and never leave them again. I'll never live with Worlders and I'll have a long life with Ike, Raven, Nona, Lumie, Toby, Evie, Azar, Xerxes, Sachi, Padma…*_

To her tired mind, listing her Family was like a lullaby and she quickly fell asleep.

()

Many of the Hearts were on deck watching the approaching shore with excitement. Law among them. He was hopeful that his crew won't get caught in something as troublesome as a civil war at this island. Though considering how his most troublesome subordinate was acting when they hadn't even docked yet, it was a tentative hope. Now that the moment in the galley was past and he thought on it, it pissed him off that she taunted him like that, claiming that she was holding back the whole time. When she said it he initially thought it was just talk but the coldness of the air when she apparently crossed over from anger that she had displayed towards some of the men and himself to a truly dark rage left his whole body screaming life-threatening danger. It pissed him off that she probably wasn't exaggerating. If she truly wanted to, she might successfully kill him. She had been holding back, and not just with him; all of her opponents as well. She had to be or else whether she does with him wouldn't have ever been a question. She still wasn't on deck so she was likely in her room. If he's going to confront her, better to do it now before they reach new land.

He wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to say to her but he knew that he needed to leave their conversation knowing why she was concealing her full strength for so long. Formulating a few different ways to go about getting her to tell him, ranging from asking to threatening to leave her on the island when the crew departed, Law descended the one floor down the stairs and walked to her door. When he knocked there was no answer. He tried to knock again, thinking about where she might've wandered off to if not her room. Just to be safe, he opened the door to make sure she wasn't simply ignoring him. She wasn't. Arianna was sleeping on her bed, completely oblivious to Law. *_Weird. Isn't she normally a light sleeper?* _He questioned remember how immediately she woke up when he caught her sleeping somewhere she wasn't supposed to.

He almost left but stopped when he was certain he heard her say something. She was still asleep but looked like she was fidgeting, and her kept twitching into a pained expression. "Nih."

She said something defined and clear, but Law had no idea what it was.

"Hu. Nih."

They were definitely real words, another language entirely though.

"Kad yfyo. Bmayca."

There was an obvious plea to her tone and her face scrunched. She looked like she was shaking too.

Law wanted to leave. She was clearly having a nightmare and he was not one for comforting someone.

"Ramb sa."

There was a desperate sound to her voice. Even though he didn't know what she was saying it was clear that she was begging someone for something. And even though it was far from what he was known for, Law did understand the concept of a doctors duty of having bedside manner. Clearly the best thing to do here was wake her up. Besides, he came to ask her questions, didn't he?

"Ike."

That was the first thing she said that he understood. A call to her tribal brother.

"Ike. Bmayca cyja sa."

Law turned and left. He could no longer help but think that this was not _clearly_ a nightmare. He can't understand the words coming out of her mouth and if it was a different type of dream altogether then he didn't want to go near her. She nuzzled his hand because of a smell in her dream. Who knows what will happen if he interrupts a dream of sex.

_*If it was really a nightmare, than too bad.*_ He mentally declared. He didn't want to get mixed up in her personal feelings, positive or negative, anyways.

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**I'm sorry it's so short, I just kind of wanted to set the tone for the next few chapters, besides a lot happened for its size and I didn't want to overload what happens all at once.**

**In order, Arianna was saying "Run." "No. Run." "Get away. Please." "Help me." "Ike. Please save me." when she was talking in her sleep.**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`)**

**Guest: Thanks. I love writing Law and Bepo scenes.**

**sarge1130: Bepo is his friend so I feel like he'd always take care of him. I'm not really sure what type of dream she was having. A nice one(?) I agree the Indigene and citizen thing will take time but that's no longer our concern. Thanks for the review :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Oh my god, I updated! And not with a shitty "just get something out" chapter like that last one. Sorry about that by the way. It was kind of like when you're off something for a long time that you're so desperate for another one you don't even see quality. That's what that was. ^^'**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters, they all belong to Oda Eiichiro. I do however own Arianna :)**

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**Chapter 19**

Arianna woke up to a banging on her door. She was thankful that it was someone waking her up now, rather than her dream progressing to the point that would send her screaming. She was slow and sluggish about getting out of bed. She couldn't help it. As thankful as the girl was to being woken up all she wanted was a good sleep. It took a couple of seconds longer than she would've liked but Arianna recognized the presence on the other side of the door as Marcus, so she answered, stifling a yawn. "Hi. Do you need something?"

Marcus raised an eyebrow to her. "You were sleeping?"

"Yeah." She told him as she walked back to sit on her bed, letting him in the room.

The man leaned against the doorway but didn't enter. "We landed almost a half hour ago. Don't we need to go hunting?"

Arianna was surprised, she hadn't expected them to land that quickly. Either that or she was sleeping longer than she expected. *_If only.* _She thought.

"You're coming with me again?" She tried to sound unhappy about it, like his being there was a bother, the way it she did the first time. It was inconvenient, but it also didn't _really_ bother her. She couldn't settle on wanting to be alone and wanting someone with her.

"Were you planning on carrying a bunch of dead animals back alone?" His tone was very matter-of-fact.

"That's fair, I guess. Get out so I can get dressed."

"Why? You're already dressed." She was still wearing the Heart Pirates boiling suit.

"I said it at lunch, didn't I? Prey will see me too quickly if I'm wearing this."

The medic sighed. "Hurry up then. I don't want to wait all day." He got out of the doorway and shut the door behind him.

Arianna stripped down to her pair of purple cotton panties to pull on her form hugging leather hunting suit, and slipped her ankle-high boots over her feet. She also took the opportunity to comb her hair and tied the brown locks in her low hanging pigtails. After packing twelve leather strips for snares she collected her knife and tomahawk and walked out to Marcus.

"You finally ready, Grump?" He asked, though she obviously was since she left her room and started walking towards the deck.

"'Grump?'" She asked. She didn't know that word.

"Yeah. You were _super_ grumpy at lunch, so you're a Grump."

_*Makes sense I suppose.* _Arianna consented with a hum.

Marcus ruffled her newly combed hair a bit and talked without looking at her. "Are you less grumpy after your nap?"

He really did sound like he was talking to a little kid.

"Maybe." Another nightmare was never good for her nerves but at least she got some sleep. Plus hunting was always a good pick-me-up in her opinion. She patted down the strands of hair that were now sticking up though she didn't care enough to fix it completely.

This island was very different from the last one but very similar too. It was a large city of stone and brick but it didn't smell as bad as Murat. She could actually breathe comfortably enough to smell the people around her. The buildings were significantly taller than any she'd ever seen, having minimum of four stories to each building, she counted the windows, and the outside stones were all smoothed over making each structure look like it was carved out rather than built up. There were once again roads in between the buildings, and this time she knew better than to walk on them. She couldn't see or smell any greenery other than what was obviously intentially planted around the buildings so she approached one of the citizens, a woman in a plain but clean long sleeved blue dress. The woman looked friendly enough until she saw Marcus watching the younger girl and became nervous. "Excuse me. Does this island have a forest?" It felt weird to have to ask such a thing, but all off the building were blocking her view.

"Uh. Yes it does." She stopped at that, glancing between Arianna and Marcus.

"Could you tell me which way to go to get there?" Arianna tried not to sound impatient but it was creeping up in her. She really was grumpy today.

"Y-yes. If you just walk directly northwest from here. It is outside the city's edge there." She pointed in the direction that she was referring to as well.

"Thank you." The huntress nodded her and tried to leave but stopped when the woman started to stutter something.

"Are you safe? Should I contact the Marines for you?" The woman sounded almost fearful.

"I'm fine, I go hunting all the time. Why?" Arianna honestly couldn't understand what the woman was so nervous about.

"N-No. I meant…" She huddled in close and cupped a hand around the smaller girl's ear. "That man is wearing a Heart Pirate jolly roger! You haven't been kidnapped or threated, have you?"

"Oh. No. I'm traveling with them."

The woman backed away a few steps and started looking frightened of the girl too. "I see…"

Arianna could see that the woman was now afraid of her too, but tried to smile nicely to her. "Thank you again."

Returning to Marcus' side she began walking in the direction that she was told was where they should go to get to a forest. "The woman said it was this way."

"You're not bothered?" Marcus asked her, when she didn't say anything else.

"By what?"

"That woman became afraid of you when you told her you were with the crew, right? Aren't you bothered?"

Arianna looked up at the man and saw that he was looking at her curiously. He really seemed to think that she'd be upset about the woman being frightened. "Nope. I'm a scary person after all." She laughed the question off.

Marcus huffed. "Yeah. As scary as a puppy."

The girl chuckled. She knew it was a joke but was happy that the man was willing to joke with her after what happened earlier that day.

"Or maybe it's more like 'as scary as a raging Sea King'." This time he didn't sound entirely joking; and he was looking at her from the corner of a grey eye.

If he was going to be serious, maybe she should too. "There are a lot more scary monsters in the world than raging Sea Kings."

"Like what? You know more about the New World than any of us, except maybe Bepo."

"Bepo knows that part of the ocean?" This was a surprise. She thought the whole crew was from the Blue Oceans that Law had mentioned.

"Yeah. He's from some moving island in the New World… Or something like that. But I don't think he saw too much of the other islands after he left his. Forgetting Bepo; what's the New World like?"

Somehow a moving island sounds familiar to her but Arianna couldn't pinpoint why. Setting that aside, she had to take a few minutes to think about her home ocean. She had lived only in that part of the world until three years ago but she didn't want to tell him obvious things about it. *_Though, my idea of obvious rarely seems to match Worlders.*_

"It's a lot like Paradise. Only more dangerous. The waves get huge randomly, the weather changes from sunny to a full storm in seconds, and some places have weird things happen that don't happen anywhere else."

"I've heard that all before. It's about the only thing about that ocean that's common knowledge. That and that the Yonko all sail there."

Arianna got a little smirk on her face. She took that as a bit of a challenge to come up with the weirdest things she knew of. "Oh so you know that there's an island that is so hot, ships sometimes catch fire. And an island where everyone can fly while there. And there's also this one place that is frozen and not even fire can melt the ice."

This stopped Marcus. "Wait. What?"

She looked at him with a mischievous grin. "I thought the weird things happening there was common knowledge?"

Marcus roughly rubbed the top of her head, pushing it down slightly. "Smart-ass."

Arianna giggled, and hooked her elbow around his arm. "This is definitely better than being alone. Thanks for coming with me _Big Brother_."

"I thought I was 'Mr. Babysitter'." The medic was obviously enjoying himself.

"You've been promoted."

"Isn't that nice of you? I never asked, how much meat do we need to bring back?"

The one that was going to be doing most of the work yawned before answering. "More than we can carry. So it's going to take a few trips."

The medic looked down at her. "You're still tired? You were just taking a nap."

Without really thinking, Arianna replied. "I haven't been getting much sleep the past few nights."

Marcus stopped walking. "Are you sure you're okay to be hunting then?"

Arianna released his arm to continue a few more steps and stretched them out. "I'll be fine. I could hunt fully asleep if I need to."

He, apparently, wasn't going for her joke. "You know, if you're hurt or sick you need to tell Captain. Not being able to sleep is something that he needs to know in case you're becoming ill."

"Captain doesn't sleep much either. I don't see you having concerns that he's sick." During her nights Arianna had taken to exercising her Hunter's Sense. It was when she does this that she usually finds that everyone's presences is subdued in their dreams and she found out that she could tell when they were having exciting or scary dreams by the way their energy moves. Law was often awake during these times but she found that when he _was_ sleeping his energy was nearly always restless, which probably didn't make for very good sleep. A few months ago she had wondered to herself why he always seemed to nap during his down time. Now she knew why. It started making her curious about the why behind the why.

"Captain is the best doctor any of us have ever seen. He doesn't need any of his subordinates worrying over him." Marcus' conclusion brought her out of her thoughts.

_*Bepo does.* _Arianna was tempted to counter with that thought, but she knew that the polar bear was a bit of an exception to many of Law's rules. "Everyone needs people looking after them if they want to live long."

"I wonder what that says about the girl who spent nearly three years alone." Marcus' voice was utterly serious and calm. There was no longer a hint of the fun conversation they were having a few moments ago.

The huntress didn't want the conversation to continue in this direction though. "Feel free to keep wondering." She told him and continued on her way, trusting that he'd come along like he was supposed to.

The rest of the walk through the town was silent. It wasn't until the line of a variety of giant trees was in sight that Arianna broke the silence. "This forest is pretty alive. Give me a second before we go in though."

Arianna open her Hunter's Sense and found some large animals. She was somewhat surprised that it wasn't foggy or slow like she had been feeling since she started losing so much sleep. Maybe it was her late night exercise but now that she was actively using her Sense every living thing felt clearer than ever. *_I've got to remember to practice the basics more often.*_ Arianna could feel something large and heavy not too far from her. She sprinted towards it and when she was close enough to get a good sense of its shape and size she realized it was a wild boar. An oversized one at that. *_Looks like this might not take a bunch of trips.* _Arianna thought with a toothy smile. Before she could make a move though, she realized that Marcus had not followed her and went back to him_. _He had not moved and frankly looked pissed.

"Thanks for telling me what you were doing." He was fully sarcastic now. Not something she was used to experiencing from him.

She tried to not let it bother her. "I found something good. Could you go and find Bart? Or at least Bepo? We're going to need them to help carry it back."

Marcus lifted an eyebrow, probably doubtful, but consented. "Fine. We'll meet back here then."

"Alright. I'll try to get it as close as I can."

Going back on her own Arianna smiled at having total freedom this time. She trotted into the forest at a fairly quick pace and tracked the boar back down. Traveling through the trees by going branch to branch, she did her best to keep downwind of her prey and minimize the pressure she puts down into the earth to ensure the boar don't realized she was close. Once she was in sight of them she crouched low and stayed in the shadows, only moving when she could no longer keep a visual on the animal. It was probably the largest one she had found since coming to Paradise; and it was surrounded by half a dozen normal sized ones. The sight made her lick her lips. She had never had any kind of preference for pig but after experiencing Worlder cooking she absolutely loved it. After watching its movements for nearly 30 minutes, during which the passel barely traveled since they were foraging, she decided that Marcus should be at least close to the meeting spot by now and starting her plan.

Pulling out her strips of leather, she tied them all together one by one then tied a noose at one of the ends. Checking each knot to ensure that they were all secured before standing up and jumping down onto the boars head. Naturally it squealed and began to thrash violently. She held on by taking a fist full of hair and skin and swung the noose end onto a tusk that was protruding upwards from its bottom jaw. Pulling the leather she tightened the lead just before the boar rolled itself over in an attempt to hurt the girl on its head. Arianna barely made it off in time to avoid getting crushed, releasing the leather. "Lusa uh. Oui ghuf oui fyhd du lrynka sa." (Come on. You know you want to charge me.) She slipped in her old language as she challenged the angry creature.

Just as she hoped, a boar ran at her head on, unfortunately it was three of the normal sized boar. Arianna jumped over the first one that reached her, landed on the second one and used it as a spring board, pushing it off balance. Finally she kicked down with the added force onto the head of the third, crushing it skull and causing blood and some gooey pink material to squirt out of its nose and ears. The moment she touched the ground, Arianna grabbed hold of the dead pig and slung it over her shoulders. It was definitely heavy enough to slow her down more than she would normally risk but it was a good incentive for the boss pig. Plus it was good meat. The death of one of its own seemed to set her main target off and it cried loudly before charging her at full force. With the giant boar finally participating properly, she turned and ran. Killing it here would be pretty stupid since it would mean that she would have to leave it unattended for what would be too long in her opinion while she goes to get Marcus and whoever he brings back to help. Following the same trail that she had used would've taken too long so she decided to simply run towards the general direction of the town, slowing down and speeding up when necessary to keep the large boar interested in charging her as everything behind it was destroyed. Once she was certain she was somewhat close, Arianna expanded her Hunter's Sense and focused it on finding Marcus. She found him nearby, along with a few other people, one of which she was greatly shocked and now nervous about. They still hadn't reached their meeting point but seemed to be approaching it which gave her the general location of where she needed to go. When she abruptly took a sharp turn left and continued running off; the girl could hear her prey skid and crash loudly into a thick sounding tree. She looked back to see it stagger a step but then continue charging at her while the tree it crashed into fell above it and caught in the surrounding trees. *_He's a tough one.* _She commented to herself.

Just as she expected, she hadn't been far and when the trees opened up she saw not just Marcus but Bart, Bepo and Law all standing there looking in her direction. *_Why did Law have to come?* _She cried internally. Despite the raging monstrous animal right behind her, she somehow still managed to worry about the fact that the pirate captain was likely royally pissed off at her. As soon as she stepped into the clearing, Arianna lifted the dead boar over her head and hurled it at the pirates, Bart stepping forward to catch it, before spinning in her place to face her real target as it crashing through the tree line, making it match the path of destruction that the angry animal carved out the whole way there. She waited for the oversized boar to take a few steps into the clearing before the huntress launched herself forward and up, jumping just over its mouth and onto the boar's snout. Boars were very predictable animals. When something is stuck to their back they thrash and roll until it's off. When something angers them they charge straight at it. And of course, when something of any weight lands on their snout they snap their head back to try and throw it off. Arianna let herself be thrown into the air and when she was the leather strap still caught on its tusk snapped upwards with her. As she flew higher she kept a hand loosely gripped over the makeshift rope, counting each knot that passed through her fingers. When she counted the eleventh and final knot her grip on the leather tightened as she wrapped it around her hand a few times and drew her tomahawk. With all of the strength she could muster from her body she pulled the lead, throwing her weight and all of the extra force that the boar threw her up with back down. Channeling her strength and Warrior's Cloak into her weapon, she spun her body once just before reaching her target and slammed it into the center of the boar's head.

With all of the excess force needing somewhere to go, the underside of the animal's head practically blew open, painting the grass beneath deep red as more blood than she would usually allow poured out of the dead animal's body. Naturally a decent amount of blood and pink goo sprayed back up at Arianna and she could taste it in her mouth and feel it dripping on her already blood-splattered face from her hair. With it no longer moving, the huntress was able to get a better look at the size of the boar. It was easily ten times her size and now that she thought about it she wasn't certain that even Bart and Bepo could carry it back to the ship. Plus that would mean carrying it through town, which probably wouldn't go over well with the citizens or maybe even Law. He didn't like the crew attracting too much attention, at least not until after they all had a chance to enjoy themselves a bit on land.

"What the hell are you planning on doing with that?" It was Law who asked and he sounded like he couldn't decide if he should be angry or shocked that she chose such a large animal to hunt.

"I didn't think it was that big. All of the trees are bigger than normal too so it seemed smaller in there." Arianna felt embarrassed and if it weren't for the blood on her face her blush would've been obvious. How could she make such a mistake?

When she heard him sigh, the girl looked back at the captain. "Wait here and get started on cutting it up."

They could all hear the still living boar from the passel finally arrive to the forest edge to the help their leader. "Also, catch those alive." He said and he walked back towards town with Bepo following silently.

Catching the five pigs was easy. Bart scooped up three in his arms, Marcus wrapped his rope dart around the hock of another so that it couldn't run off, while Arianna took the leather strap off of the large dead boar and tackled the last one to tie it around the back leg.

They were all screaming and it was really starting to give Arianna a headache. The boys looked like they were getting one too, so she undid some of the knots to tie a leash on each of them and tied them to a nearby tree. They were all still distressed but they stopped screaming so it was easier to ignore.

With Law's odd request fulfilled the huntress made her way back to the problematic kill, she asked that the boys help her turn the pig on its side. Afterwards Bart sat at a tree a little ways off and Marcus walked to her side. Marcus repeatedly opened and closed his mouth; every time looking like he was about to say something he changed his mind. She pulled out her knife and began cutting into the abdomen while she waited for the medic to settle on whatever it was he wanted to say first. In the end all that came out of his mouth was, "I… I give up." And he sat down a few feet from her and the dead animal.

()

"Captain, what's wrong?" Bepo asked.

"That girl is remarkably stupid." Law's response was curt.

"I don't know about that." The bear clearly didn't want to _disagree _with his captain, but he probably wasn't sure that he agreed with Arianna being stupid either.

"What could her reasoning for killing such a large creature possibly be?" The man was clearly irate. "For a girl who was complaining about her clothes being too noticeable she certainly doesn't seem to care when her actions could draw the attention of the whole island."

He promptly stopped talking after that and Bepo continued to follow wordlessly, letting his captain silently vent. No matter how bad his mood was, Law tried not to verbally complain too much. He'd rather expel that energy doing something much better a ridding him of his annoyance and anger, like killing. Or torturing and dissecting victims. Something constructive like that.

It took a little bit of walking in the town's, which he had learned was called Vertwall, street market area but he eventually found what he was looking for. A wooden cargo wagon. "That one." Law told his companion.

While it was small enough for one horse to be able to pull it, it should be big enough for the ridiculously large boar Arianna killed. Naturally, Law would have no desire to have a horse but it made sense to keep the cart for later use in case something like this happened again, so he cut the harness attachments that held the animal in place while Bepo unlatched the back wall of the cart so it would lay flat for easy access. A somewhat large man in worn out clothes and a thick black beard and hair, likely the cart's owner, ran up on the bear and was yelling curses at him for attempting to steal his goods. Law simply opened his palm. "ROOM."

When his small blue dome was up Bepo started walking around to the front of the cart, ignoring the angry man, while the captain pointed his finger left and gave his "Tact" command, throwing all of the items out of the cart and on to the owner. "You can keep your shit. We just need this." The pirate captain said calmly as he closed his room and began his walk back to the group with the dead animal swiping a tarp from a someone else's cart too, his first mate happily humming behind him pulling the cart himself as if it were a little wagon.

"Hey Captain, I was wondering. What are we going to do for tonight?"

"The usual. Find somewhere to stay on the island. Leave a few people on the ship to be safe."

"Any clue on who you're going to leave?"

Law turned his head just enough for Bepo to see the smirk on his face.

The bear dropped his ears slightly and sighed at his captain's childish level of revenge, "Arianna, huh?"

"I just need to decide on who else is going to stay with her. Probably Thomas since she is more likely to listen to him than any of the other men."

"In that case Austin will probably want to stay as well."

"No. They could do with some time apart."

"In that case, how about either Oliver or Connor?"

Law considered it. But then thought the reason they were able to behave themselves well enough that no one, possibly Bepo included, knew that they were together was because they would always spend time on islands for such things. He wouldn't take that time away. He wasn't heartless. "No. They're fine. What would you say to leaving Clyde-ya?"

"No objections!" The bear shouted happily.

_*Meaning he's still giving you trouble, huh?* _Law thought to himself. The man wasn't blind to his friend's situation with the mechanic. The stocky man had deep respect for his captain, and none for his first mate. Clyde was very lucky that Law had not dumped him in the ocean locked in a crate of bricks or something along those lines; and he won't… Probably. The Dark Doctor was making a very serious, and successful, effort at restraining himself from reacting to Clyde's quips and jokes towards the bear. Bepo needed to be able to earn his own respect from every member of the crew without Law. How was he to trust that they won't turn on his first mate if he was separated for any amount of time otherwise?

"Alright then. Arianna-ya, Thomas and Clyde-ya will stay on the ship while everyone else stays on the island for the night." The pair walked in a comfortably silence the rest of the way back after that.

When they came back to the tree line the little huntress had totally skinned the dead boar but she hadn't seemed to begin actually cutting the animal up yet. "You're still haven't started cutting it up?" He asked a bit surprised.

"This fur is my prize. Do you have any idea how few pigs get this big? I'm keeping it as perfect as I can." She said somewhat proudly.

"No, I don't. I wasn't raised in the dirt." Law was looking at her with a blank expression and tone to match.

Arianna looked like she was about to say some sort of retort but she apparently remembered whom she was talking to because she immediately shut her mouth and returned to her work, looking clearly pissed. Law ignored the slightly shocked looks he got from his men. "Step back Arianna-ya."

She looked back at him, showing a bit of confusion though still mostly angry, but complied. Law opened his room and drew his nodachi from its sheath, cutting the large lump of flesh into little pieces. He moved to a new angle and cut it into smaller, more manageable chunks. Once finished the pirate captain sheathed his blade and looked back to the girl who was looking at what he just did with an almost heartbroken expression. "What?"

She looked down to the ground. "Even if I told you, I'm sure you wouldn't care." Her tone matched her face.

"Whatever. Just load all of this onto the cart and take it back to the ship. Make sure you cover it up too."

"Sure." She said.

"I'll give you a hand." Marcus said.

Bepo and Bart also pitched in on loading the cart without saying anything. With most of the meat loaded onto the cart, only obvious pieces of organs were left behind, the four pirates started making their way back to the sub. Bart pulling the cart as Bepo pushed and Marcus and Arianna walked beside it. He meant to tell the girl to clean the blood and brain matter off of her face but they were already a good distance away when he realized he hadn't. *_Oh well. Not really my problem at the moment.*_

Law looked at the still living boar that had been tied to a tree for him. *_Time to get some work done.*_ He thought with a smirk and opened his Room to begin some training.

()

Arianna wasn't sure how long she had been sitting on deck sorting through the meat and she didn't want to think about it because what she did know was that she was doing the task alone. *_Screw you Law!* _She cried, mostly, internally. To think that the pirate captain would thoughtlessly slice the whole animal to little pieces. Now she had to sort through all of it to take out the organ pieces.

So here she was. Sorting through pieces of a carcass alone and it was taking a long as hell time thanks the animal's unnatural size. She spotted Bart exiting the ship for the first time since they returned and called out to him. "Bart-san! I haven't forgotten about the favor you asked me. This is going to take some time but I should be able to start making something for you in the next few days. It would be sooner but the skins take time to become leather."

The large man seemed a bit pleased by her update. "Thank you. But didn't you say you wanted keep that big skin intact?"

"Yeah, but I have the smaller one and some leftovers from a little while ago. It'll be enough." She gave him a toothy, reassuring smile which seemed to earn a slight pause from the man.

"You… really should wash your face. There's still a lot of blood on it."

The girl was slightly surprised by the suggestion. She honestly hadn't given her appearance a single thought and forgot about the splatter from before. *_Now that I think about it everyone in the town was looking at me like they thought I was about to attack.* _She realized with a sudden sweat.

"R-Right. I'll do that now." She said with an embarrassed chuckle. Getting up from her work and offering a farewell nod, she entered the sub and went down the steps, intending to go to the bathroom to just wash her face but decided that there was no reason she shouldn't, and probably a good handful of reasons she should, take a full shower. All of the men were already off of the ship except for Bepo and Thomas.

Making a quick detour to grab a change of clothes and her cleaning supplies on the way down she was a little surprised to encounter the head chef on the same level. "Arianna… Um…"

He was clearly at a bit of a loss for words so she tried to offer a way out. "I'm getting a change of clothes so I can get cleaned up. Sorry I don't have the meat down yet. It's going to take some time to go through it."

"Why's that?"

"Captain thought I was going too slow so he cut the whole thing into little pieces and I still need to figure out what's meat and what's organ." She didn't plan on whining to the man before her but somehow she still did. She couldn't help it.

Thomas sighed. "I'll go and work on it. You shower and come back to help. It's on deck right?"

"Yeah." She was still sounding a bit down but at least she won't be working alone now.

"I'll try to convince Captain to not be in such a rush next time too." The adult's voice was full of sympathy for the young woman.

"Thanks. I'll get back to the deck quickly."

"Okay." With that Thomas made his way upstairs and Arianna continued on to her room then the showers.

Her hunting clothes did a good job of shielding her body from most of the blood but her neck, face, hair and especially hands were stained red. It was probably almost two hours since killing the animal and the fluid had completely dried onto her skin. There was no way she was going to get it all off of her hands, which was fine since she was going to go right back to handling the same animal's innards, but she scrubbed her face with a rough rag until her cheeks were painful and ran her hands through her hair and scalp until the water no longer ran pink off of her. She took a few minutes after that to wash off her clothes.

Satisfied that she and her clothes was as clean as they was going to get, she turned the water off and dried herself. Since she was still going to be working she opted to put her old green shirt and blue jeans on over the same pair of panties since she had just put them on that morning. Not wanting to deal with her hair at the moment, she tied it into a messy bun knowing full well she'll regret it later but at the moment couldn't care. Slipping on her rabbit fur shoes and taking her hunter suit with her, Arianna went back upstairs to join Thomas.

The man had made decent progress on the pile of flesh in the cart and it even looked like he had taken some down into the ship. The young huntress draped her leather clothes over a railing and settled into her place next to Thomas to get to work. With the both of them there, the pile had been quickly sorted, and while they didn't offer much conversation-wise with each other, Arianna was thankful for the company. When they were finally done with that though she still had the normal sized animal to skin and carve up.

"I'll take this all down while you work on that." Thomas told her as he started carrying crates of meat into the sub.

Arianna smiled at the man. She was so used to him simply ordering around her and the kitchen staff to do most of the menial work that it was nice to have him act like a complete equal. She was aware that it was probably because it was just them on the ship, and Bepo but he's superior to even Thomas, but the girl enjoyed the change all the same.

She made quick work of her task with experienced hands and leaned back with a stretch, releasing the stiffness in her whole body from her toes to her fingers. As she lay splayed out on the yellow deck she watched the sky. It was orange already, and shifting to a red shade. *_Red. The Blood Moon…* _All of the work had managed to distract her from tonight's event; but with nearly all of the work finished it was back on her mind. *_I think I'm going to go in early tonight. Like the next hour early. Ah. I don't know where we're staying tonight though. Maybe Bepo will know.* _She sat up to go downstairs but realized that she still had to carry the last of the meat to the storage freezer. *_Right. Gotta put this away.*_

Arianna began loading her arms with as much of the meat as she could carry and starting making several trips back and forth. Once she was finished she decided to go and find Bepo but was stopped short when she encountered Law at the stairs. The man looked a bit tired and most definitively had a good amount of blood on him. "Law! What happened?"

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't I tell you to not call me by my name?"

Her worry deflated. He was obviously fine and she was able to take a better look and smell of him now. It was pig's blood on him.

"Sorry. Captain. What happened?"

"Nothing. I used those pigs you caught to work out a technique with my devil fruit power."

This greatly confused her. Because his powers work at a distance he always comes out of a fight clean, unless he was actually hit; not that she was going to ask about it. "Oh. Um… That's great. Where are we staying tonight? I was on my way to ask Be-"

Law cut her off there. "You're staying on the ship tonight. Thomas and Clyde are too. The rest of us found a place inland."

The sudden decision caught her off-guard. "Really?"

Law didn't say anything, just stared at her.

She shrugged. "Okay."

It really didn't bother her. Maybe it would any other night, but tonight was special. "I'll just go to bed early then."

The pirate captain's expression twitched slightly. Was he expecting a fight on the matter? It wouldn't have been a strange expectation if he was, but at the same time he was aware of her depression from her… *_What did Marcus call it? "Homesick"?*_

"Arianna-ya. Why are you hiding the fact that you speak a different language?"

Amazingly enough for someone who was standing in place, she stumbled over herself at the question. "Where did that come from?"

"I went to talk to you when we first made it to the island but you were sleeping. You talk in your sleep." He was watching her closely as he spoke. His sharp yellow eye probably looking for something in her face to change.

"Worlders scare easily. Your kind finds out that some speaks something different or lives with a different way of thinking and there's nothing but suspicion. Isn't that what you've felt since you found out? Suspicion?" Arianna didn't like talking about this but she couldn't easily avoid the subject since Law asked her directly.

"Yes. Because there's nothing more suspicious than someone who deliberately hides something so basic it doesn't even matter."

She was a bit doubtful. "That's what decides who you trust? Not what a person does but how much they say about themselves."

"You really do have trust issues. You know that?" Law didn't sound like he was angry or even impatient. He almost sounded like he was using his doctor's tone.

_*Noted.* _She thought to herself. Not knowing what to say in response to that, the girl took a different approach on what to say. "From what you do know, is it actually surprising that Tribesmen have our own language?"

"No. Which is why it's odd that it hadn't come up until today."

"I haven't had anybody to speak to with it. I became very used to your language." Arianna couldn't help but be a little sad when she pointed that fact out. That she even sounds like there is no other language filling her head and thoughts except for this man's was just another testament to how long she has been without her Family.

Law sighed. "Any other details that you are withholding out of mistrust?"

_*Dozens, but you probably know that.* _Arianna took a few seconds to think through them, shifting her head side to side as she did. *_Maybe I should mention __**that**__.*_

"Tribesmen all have a special use of our energy. Sorry, Haki, that makes us much stronger. I can't control myself too well when I use it. So if you see me coming with a crazy look on my face… Let's… just hope you don't."

"What's it do?" Unfortunately her warning has apparently peaked the man's interest.

She started rubbing her neck in stress. "You guys already think I'm a bit more animal than person, right? It wouldn't help any argument against that."

"What makes you think that?" Law seemed legitimately confused.

_*He doesn't?* _That actually surprised her a little, and she smiled at him in thanks; though he just seemed a tiny bit more confused now. "Just make sure you're ready for me to try very hard to kill you if I use it. And you will know it when you see it."

The man's face tightened a bit in a frown but he seemed to understand that she was going to continue skirting around a full explanation. "Just stay on the ship for the night. Got it?"

"Yeah. I promise. I'm just going to take a peek at the moon then I'm going to bed." She assured him.

Law nodded to her then continued on his way down, leaving her alone so she continued up. Walking to the end of the deck she settled down on the hard floor with her legs hanging off the side while she waited for the sky to finish darkening and the moon to glow in its truly brilliant red.

She considered her little conversation with Law. *_That actually went well. I guess even he can cut people slack. At least when he realizes that there are no bad intentions.*_

The sound of the metal door opening made her look back at it, pushing the top of her skull into the floor giving her an upside down view of Law walking out of the sub with Bepo and a small backpack, likely containing a change of clothes. The man looked at her for an extra second before walking across the deck to the opening in the rail for disembarking. "Try not to fall asleep outside."

She took that as _"__good night"_.

Bepo probably did too. "Sleep tight, Ari-chan!"

_*"Something so basic it doesn't even matter."* _She considered his words for a second before calling back. "Kuut hekrd." ("Good night.")

Bepo got a very confused look on his face but Law didn't even seem to notice. Or at least purposely didn't react.

Arianna continued to lay there for a little while longer, staring at the Bloodmoon; hardly acknowledging Clyde when he stepped on deck. She was too busy singing songs and chants in her head that had been deeply ingrained into her from a lifetime of tradition. She could practically smell the feast that all of the Tribes assist in preparing. Even after a few years without it she could vividly picture how everything would be going. She could imagine seeing Friends from other Tribes and hear the whispers and celebratory calls of failures and victories from the year. *_NO!* _She shouted internally. *_I can't lay here and dream about then. I need to get some sleep and continue growing. Once everything is over, I'll never have to miss a Bloodmoon again.*_

With her resolve steeled, she stood to go down into her room but stopped when she thought her Sense caught the presence of a fox. The feeling was faint so she focused it but could no longer feel a fox, instead she detected a dog that was walking with a person. *_I really do need sleep_.* With that, she decided it was as good of a time as any to use the Night Kiss oil that Violca had given her. Arianna had originally hoped to reserve it for nights on islands only to ensure that she didn't have nightmares in earshot of the crew but her lack of proper sleep was screwing with her behavior and making her mind a bit groggy. At least when she wasn't actively interacting with others.

Decision made, the first thing she did when she entered her room was dig out a jar of the oil and put her grass necklace into it, leaving it to soak in the oil while she made one last trip to the bathroom to pee and brush her teeth. When she did she realized that the time to regret simply tying her hair into an even bigger knot has come. As gingerly as she could, Arianna began combing her hair, bit by bit. No matter how gently she worked it, she couldn't help but tear up as hairs were yanked and pulled out of her head. When she was finished, the girl decided to weave her locks into twin braids, though because her hair is already short the braid ends just barely touched her shoulders.

She went back to her room after that, changed into a pair of black pajama pants and a loose gray cotton tank top. With nothing else to do she pulled the grass braid from the oil and squeezed the excess off before tying it around her neck. The fragrance coming off of it put her into a deep sleep within minutes.

()

It took some doing but Law had managed to get Bepo to calm down after Arianna's sudden use of her other language. His bear companion had been incredibly confused and began a string of one question asked many different ways. "Did you know she could speak like that?"

The pirate captain told him about his conversation with her before he had gone all the way down to the navigation room to get him. Doing so had brought a new series of questions out of Bepo. These summed up to be: "What is her secret Haki power?"

Of course, this was Law's question as well. He suspected that it was this technique that made her so confident that morning when she declared herself to hold back against him, but if she did so more out of not being able to control herself than out of actual mercy or disrespect, whichever way you looked at it, he wouldn't consider it to count. The only reason he didn't push it was actually for his own benefit. They were having a decent conversation and the longer it went the more likely it was to turn sour and reignite his frustration and annoyance with her. He'll start working the answer out of her tomorrow. He just wanted to relax tonight. Or perhaps the opposite. He wanted to have a good time.

The two pirate took a slightly scenic route to their hotel, taking in the night view of the streets. The area where they were going to was clearly for tourist as it was littered with hotels, restaurants, bars and random stores; all of which were lit up with strings of lights and neon signs. It was clearly an area to have fun in. The hotel he chose to stay in was smaller but at the heart of this street and right across from a restaurant with an outdoor terrace area to eat in. He prefers to keep his crew in smaller businesses like this since it means less chances of outsiders being around the men when they were asleep and vulnerable.

Law and Bepo didn't stay in the building for long. Just long enough to leave his backpack with his and his partner's clothes; and then promptly left for the largest, rowdiest bar he could find, knowing full well that that's where he'll find his crew.

There was a bar only a block away but he could almost hear it from the hotel's front door, so he checked there first. He was right. The large crowded room was scattered with his laughing and happy crew. The captain had to hand it to his men; they knew how to have an instant good time. "There they are!" Bepo cheered out happily as he pushed his way past a bunch of people already drunk enough to not realize that a polar bear just walked by them to get to Shachi and Penguin. Law followed suit.

"Cap! Bepo! You two finally made it!" The buzzed redhead announced loudly over the crowd while Penguin indicated to the bartender to bring more booze.

"Yep." The man said with a smirk, taking his overfilled mug and started downing the first quarter of it.

"There's the Law we've been missing!" Penguin cheered excitedly.

Shachi apparently took this as permission to start giving his captain a hard time. "Except you still have your sword. You know that's never good for attracting women!"

Law shifted the nodachi he had leaning on his shoulder. He never went anywhere without it, nor should he. Just because he was taking a few hours off from being a captain doesn't mean there aren't going to be people who will try to kill him. Rather than say all of that, he chuckled a bit. "Good. It'll weed out the boring ones."

The two boisterous boys next to him burst out laughing and one of them smacked him hard on the back, which he ignored as he sat on the barstool that suddenly emptied next to him. Bepo seemed to have disappeared to the other side of the room too, leaving Law alone with his two most infamous troublemakers. Though, they preferred the phrase, "good-time guys" which was exactly why he stayed where he was. Law ordered another beer while he completely downed his first one. This one he did plan on drinking with a bit more pace since he does have alcohol in his system now, even if it wasn't enough to so much as start a buzz.

He drank his beer while listening to Shachi telling some story about some woman that he apparently fought for a few islands back. A minor event that Penguin was likely there for but said story was just as likely to be different and grander each time he tells it. "I'm not kidding you, this hulking guy, bigger than Bart, comes barreling down the alley. Screaming like a madman at me for 'touching his woman,' and all I had to do was jump off the wall and over this idiot's head and BAM! He runs straight into a brick building!"

Penguin was laughing hysterically. Law, while much more subdued, was laughing too. Sure the crew was made of people who were idiots; these two especially, but the whole crew where his idiots. So if the mood strikes him, even the Dark Doctor will willingly sit and listen to some drunken story and chuckle along.

"Captain!" Kalas barreled into Law's back, knocking some of his drink out of the mug.

"What the hell? If you're going to drink then it needs to be with everyone!" The mechanic/tailor was clearly smashed.

Law looked over to where many of the men had gathered. Around a table absolutely covered with full glasses. A drinking challenge.

"Aw hell yeah!" Shachi and Penguin shouted in unison and raced over to join the warriors that stepped up to the challenge. Law followed to the table that now consisted of: Shachi, Penguin, Kai, Austin, Koma, Kalas, Connor, and Bart. A few of the men jeered when their captain joined the ranks of the challengers but all were confident that they themselves would win. "Beers in hand!" Bepo announced.

"GO!"

With that eight Heart Pirates declared war on their liver. While Law was participating, it was really no more than that. Participating. His desire to see if he could out-drink his crew never exceeded his distaste for alcohol poisoning. It was almost painfully obvious who on the crew had to deal with the men after they make themselves sick since, with the exception of Shachi, none of the medics, including Law, drank in excess.

Kalas was the first to tap out. Not surprising since he started already far gone. Kai had to quit second, and Law bowed out not long after that with a decent enough buzz going.

Austin and Connor practically dropped at the same time.

Koma was putting up a good fight but the whole crew knew from the get-go that the real battle would be among Shachi, Penguin and Bart. By the time the table had to be cleared and reloaded, the large cook leaned over and started throwing up; seriously pissing off the bar manager, not that any of the pirates cared.

All that was left was the three-way, and while it was tempting to just assume Bart would be superior with his large size, the two veteran Hearts were professional drinkers and they knew how to keep standing.

Law found a chair with a good view of the competition and sat. Listening as the men chanted for whoever they wanted to win.

"What an entertaining crew you have." A decidedly feminine voice said from behind him.

The pirate captain turned to look at her with sharp eyes. He greatly disliked someone coming up from behind like that. The woman who spoke was, in a word, stunning. She had long blond hair that looked like it was intentionally messed up to give it a slightly untamed look, clear gray eyes and an olive skin tone that competed with his own. She lacked make-up, clearly not needing it, and was wearing a black sleeveless turtle-neck shirt that looked like a lion or bear had gotten a hold of it and slashed the front, giving peeks at nearly everything below her bust, though there was a tiny tear just at the medial line of her collar bone. Beneath that she had a tight pair of equally black jean shorts with a decorative silver chain connected to two belt loops, successfully showing off her long legs all the way down to the red round-toed heels that strapped across her ankles.

While Law didn't think he was, he must have been inspecting her appearance for more than a second because she purred as she spoke. "Enjoying your view?"

He smirked dangerously at her. "Yeah."

She laughed with a voice that was obviously velvety on purpose and stood in front of him, not that he minded. "Who'd thought? The infamous Trafalgar Law in Vertwall the same time as me. And on the night of a beautiful red moon, no less."

"Oh? Not a local?" Law asked, feigning interest.

"Does it matter?" She asked, now sitting herself down on his lap. Getting close enough for Law to find out that she smelled like citrus and that there were a few cords of dreadlocks hidden amongst her hair.

"Since you know who I am, why not tell me who you are?" He may not have been actively guarding himself against the woman on his lap but he wasn't totally taken in. The pirate was making sure that he kept half of his attention on working his Kenbunshoku Haki to alert him to anything suspicious as well was glancing at Bepo, who hadn't taken his eyes off of the captain for longer than a minute since meeting up in the sub.

Instead she gave a little nibble then lick on the nape of his neck. "Does it matter?"

Law's never fading smirk darkened a little. *_Nope.*_

He was out of the bar with the woman before anyone other than Bepo even knew she was there.

…

Law had taken the blond woman back to his hotel room after finding out it was closer than hers. He was pleased to say the least. Sex had been just what he needed. He laid in his bed naked while the woman got dressed. "Thanks. I had a good time."

The man let out a single laugh in response.

She smirked at him and finished strapping her shoes on. "Tell you what. It's not often I enjoy myself this much so I'll make sure it comes back to you in a good way,"

"How so?" The pirates' ever suspicious mind couldn't help but take those words seriously.

"A woman has her ways." She teased.

"Good luck with that then."

"Thanks again for the fun Law." And with that she closed the door and was gone.

He stood up and watched from the third-story window until he saw her walking down the street and turn a corner out of sight, going the proper direction to get to the hotel she claimed to be staying at. While doing that he noticed the red tint everything had to it thanks to the red moon. Unfortunately he couldn't look at the stupid thing without thinking of a certain girl on his ship. *_Fine. So maybe she isn't the only one with trust issues.*_

If he did, he didn't care. Starting to feel sticky and gross, Law decided to take a shower before going to sleep. He wasn't sure how late it was, he just knew it was late and Bepo would probably be coming in any minute.

He wasn't wrong. Just as he turned off the water he heard the door open and his friend announced that it was him. Law walked out of the bathroom with his hair still dripping warm water and only a towel since his clothes are still stuffed in his bag. Bepo smiled awkwardly at him and he knew it wasn't from the man's lack of clothes but rather the smell that was now lingering in the room. *_Whoops.*_

"Sorry Bepo. We'll leave the window open for the night."

"Thanks." The bear said sheepishly.

The glass panel slide open easily. Just before Law's hands left it there was a sound that immediately sobered him up from any lingering alcohol or sex. His den den mushi was ringing. At this time of night that would only mean something bad. He answered it before its second string of ring noises and was meet with Thomas' voice. "Captain! We have a problem."

The chef's voice was groggy but he also sounded serious.

"What happened?" Law demanded calmly.

"Clyde attacked me out of nowhere and when I woke up he was unconscious."

Law and Bepo shot each other looks of confusion and concern. Clyde attacking is odd enough on its own, but he was unconscious too.

"That's not all." The voice on the line said, drawing their attention back.

"Arianna is gone."

* * *

**And I'm going to be slightly evil and leave with a cliffhanger. Sorry**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`)**

**Sarge1130: Thanks for the words friend. Also, no, she won't constantly wear the uniform. I have something planned concerning that for later. I figure she's already not wearing the boiler suit so it's not like I'm spoiling anything ;)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Welcome back guys! So this chapter was originally twice as long. Ultimately I decided it was too long so I broke it up into this chapter and the next one. I literally did not add or change anything from them after making that decision. I just cut it in half and each one is still a decent length ^^'**

* * *

**Chapter 20**

The sound of a flesh to flesh strike resonated in the very dimly lit galley of the Heart Pirates submarine. Thomas punched Clyde's right cheek to wake up the unconscious man who was hand cuffed to a chair that had been placed in the open space of the floor.

"Wha-! Ugh… What?"

The mechanic was attempting to collect his bearings as he was forcibly awakened. He looked around the room, trying to understand where he was. Not even most of the crew members would recognize the galley when there was just enough illumination to give some detail but the surroundings and a vagueness of the chef's facial features, which was drawn into tight lines and an angry sneer.

"Clyde. Did you have a nice nap?" The venom in the chef's voice was as deadly as a black widow's bite.

"Tom-san? What… What's going on?" Clyde sounded sincere in his ignorance.

"That's what we would like to know. You _were _the one who attacked after all."

The silver-blue haired mechanic was clearly confused. It didn't take more than a few seconds for his confusion to change to fear. "_'__We?'_"

"Yes. 'We'." The cold voice of the infamous Surgeon of Death said from behind Thomas. Even less of his expression and posture could be seen as his eyes were shadowed even more than everything else in the room thanks to his hat but what could been seen made him appear calm which was all the more terrifying. He wasn't angry. He was detached, which means he was looking at a man who is supposed to be a pirate on his crew as a prisoner, as someone who is disposable and worse, prime for torture.

"I don't understand! Why'd I get cuffed? Captain! PLEASE! WHAT DID I DO?!" The man was begging for someone to explain what was happening.

"YOU ATTACKED ME! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!" Thomas yelled back and primed his fist for another punch.

"Thomas."

All it took was a word from his captain to make the furious boxer stand down. He glanced at Law and then took a step back as the most frightening man they had ever met stood from his spot and slowly strode to the handcuffed man. His voice was icier than any blizzard that these North Blue natives have ever experienced. "If you don't remember what you did, then what do you remember?"

Clyde needed a few seconds to swallow his fear before he was even capable of forming words. "I-I… I was outside on deck."

"And?"

He obviously wanted desperately to look away from the captain's almost glowing yellow eyes that were locked on him like a predator towards his meal, but if he did it would only make him look even guiltier.

"There was a woman… On the dock. She fell. I went down to help her, and then I fell asleep." His voice was shaky but it seemed to be more out of reasonable fear than guilt.

There was something in the words that took Law's attention. "Where did you fall asleep?"

Some of the ice in his voice was gone.

"On the deck… No… I don't remember getting back on the ship. As soon as I reached the girl I was asleep. No… That can't be right, I couldn't have fallen asleep just like that." The more he spoke the more confused he seemed.

"Obviously that woman was tricking you. She put you to sleep." Law gave the obvious conclusion that the mechanic didn't want to believe.

The sound of the galley door being swung open so hard that it slammed against the metal wall overpowered everyone's thoughts as Bepo rushed into the room snarling almost rabidly. "What did you do with her?!"

"Bepo stop!" Thomas tried to intercept the angry bear but he was plowed right through by the charging animal.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ARI-CHAN YOU TRAITOROUS SHIT?!" He was brushing past Law now to stand before his target and lifted him and the chair off the floor and high into the air with a deep and powerful growl building in his chest.

Even Law was surprised at the rage in his friend. It wasn't often that he cursed, so when he did it was no laughing matter. Best to hear where this anger was coming from. "Bepo, what did you find?"

"When I went to search her room I smelled Clyde in there. He took her in her sleep!"

"Yeah, and did what? Where would I have stashed her?! If you ask me she walked herself out! She's probably got something to do with me blacking out!" It seemed being handled by Bepo incited the mechanics disrespectful streak.

It wasn't even half a second of the bear's muscles tensing before Law knew that if he didn't step in they would be trying to get information from a dead man. "Bepo put him down. We still need him."

The first mate was absolutely growling now, and it was a sound that not only filled the room but vibrated through the bodies of the men in it. Despite his rage, he did as his captain ordered.

"Was there anything missing from her room?" Thomas asked, possibly attempting to pull his first mate's focus off the cuffed man.

"No. Even her weapons were left behind. There's absolutely no reason to assume she left of her own volition." Though he did answer his black eyes were never pulled from the focus of his rage.

"Maybe she doesn't actually need them, and everything about her was an act."

"That's an impressively bold accusation from someone attacked a comrade." Law's tone was just as icy as before again, sending a cold fear into Clyde.

"I'm just saying. I can't be the only one who thinks that it's not a coincidence that as soon as she's on the same island as us a whole new level of bat-shit crazy starts happening. Getting caught up in a war, a government protected Poneglyph, a fucking animal eating a logia devil fruit! How much more weird shit do we need to deal with before we start thinking about what new part in the crew came the same time as all of them?"

"It happens." Law said easily. "She may have created the opportunity for us to become part of that little war but I was the one who agreed. The government hunts anyone who can read the language on Poneglyphs, is it that hard to believe that they would also hunt the stones themselves? Also, anything can eat a devil fruit, not just humans."

Clyde seemed to be somewhere between embarrassed and defeated. "Then what about me blacking out?"

"I don't leave some of you on the ship for laughs. Someone invaded us and you were the first to be defeated."

"But…" Thomas spoke as he attempted to work out what was happening. "Invaded looking for what? Arianna?"

Law gave it some thought. "Have you checked every room of the ship for anything missing?"

"No. I cuffed Clyde, went to Arianna's room and then called you."

The captain motioned for his chef to release the mechanic. "Everyone split up and search the ship. Clyde-ya, check the engine room. Bepo, search every chart and document in the navigation room to see if any are missing or even disturbed. Thomas, check the storage rooms. Meet back in my room when finished."

"Aye Captain!" All three said and rushed as quickly as they could.

Law wasn't forgetting about his missing girl, but he needed to distinguish if she was the target or a hostage. While everyone searched their designated areas he searched the infirmary's files to see if they were missing or disturbed in anyway. They weren't just a quick list of characteristics of the crew after all. They were documents that detailed every allergy, phobia, laceration, broken bone and surgery that every member of the crew experienced since joining; as well as information of any that were notable from before. That "what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger" thing was bullshit. When the body is damaged it will repair but a broken bone will have that fresher and weaker point, if only for a period of time. A scar will always be slightly more sensitive. A joint more stressed and painful.

He carefully documented every weak point, physical and psychological, in this one room. The possibility that someone can now use it against them burned him up inside. Whether it was luck that whoever this was didn't think to look for the records or didn't expect that he would do something as foolish as create them, he wasn't sure but it seemed that nothing had been touched.

Perhaps the strangeness of the invasion was making him over think the reasons. With a sudden suspicion, Law returned downstairs and entered his room. The center bookcase was pushed aside revealing the opened safe. It was supposed to hold the Heart Pirate's nearly 9,553,600 beri stash but was empty.

Law punched the wall so hard it dented and there was a distinctly sharp pain that ran up his wrist. "FUCK!"

"Captain?" It was Thomas, peering into the room from the open door. Clyde and Bepo were there too.

"The money's gone." He explained crossing the room back to them.

Bepo's ears stood tall in his surprise. "That's what this was about? Money?"

"So Arianna is what? A hostage? A distraction?" The chef tried to make sense of why someone would steal the girl if they were there to steal money. It couldn't have been that she caught them, Bepo said that she was taken from her bedroom.

"Likely both." The captain decided.

"What now?" Clyde asked.

"We go kill whoever was foolish enough to steal from us." There were equal measures of anger and excitement in Law's voice. It's been awhile since he got to play with a screaming human head.

()

"Ollie~. I wanna dance." A very drunk Connor had draped himself on the blond medic's shoulder and begged loudly. He even used his little nickname.

"Not happening. I hate dancing." Oliver wasn't really big on the idea of indulging a drunken man's whims.

"Pleas-s-se!" Connor begged louder and whinier than before.

"Still a no. Besides, what are you hoping to dance to?" He huffed out in a sigh, disappointing the younger man.

"We never get to do anything fun anymore." The mechanic complained in his drunken stupor.

_*He complains plenty sober too.* _Oliver scoffed to himself but it quickly turned into a smile. He began ruffling his boyfriend's hair. "It's a good thing you're cute."

The dark haired man laughed, though it almost sounded like a giggle thanks to the alcohol, then proceeded to return the gesture. "You too!"

They were slipping into their own little world despite still being the crowded bar with all the other pirates, minus Law and Bepo who called an early night apparently. Oliver was confident that no one could be bothered to look their way though, so he enjoyed it. Then again, if he was being honest… He'd prefer it if they left. For no other reason than that it was late and he preferred an early to bed, early to rise routine. Besides, Connor really didn't need any more alcohol. "Why don't we call it a night?"

"NO-O-O!" He protested loudly. "I wanna stay here with our friends!"

"Then why'd you come over to me?" Oliver reasoned.

"Because you're my _best _friend!" His proclamation was equally as loud as his complaints.

"Alright. Well you're best friend is going to his room to sleep, and he doesn't want to have to scrape you off the sidewalk in the morning so say good night to everyone else."

Connor turned and loudly yelled. "G'Night!"

Oliver honestly doubted if anyone actually heard him. Whether or not they did hadn't mattered. He walked out of the bar with Connor obediently following behind, paying no mind to the flash of pastel color that entered past them. The streets were still bustling despite being the middle of the night, a perk of such a tourist friendly town. Unfortunately it also meant that Connor often bumped into equally drunk people causing him and whoever he bumps into to fall over. After the third time of this happening Oliver decided to hold him up and just help him through the crowds.

"You are definitely sleeping in tomorrow." The medic said to the other man.

"Yay! You never let me sleep in!" He was overly happy.

"Yeah, well. You're obviously going to be miserable when you wake up anyways. Even I don't want to deal with that."

"I real-l-ly don't get waking up early. It's awful!" He was still going on about that.

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say." *_Just agree with the drunk man so he'll stay compliant.* _Oliver just reminded himself to do that.

"Half-pint." He said randomly.

"Yeah. She wakes up early too."

"She's going to get in trouble." Connor said that mischievously, as if it was funny.

This stopped Oliver. "Huh?"

The happy drunk pointed at a group of three people dressed in various shades of grey and black. One, a very large man, was holding the limp body of Arianna, still dressed in sleepwear. "Sneaking off the ship. Cap will be pissed~."

Connor may have been feeling amused but Oliver was far from it. Looking around, he found an alley just to his right and rushed to it. "Alright, down you go." He set his dark haired companion on the ground and held his face steady to make sure he was focused.

"Connor. Call Captain on this. Tell him Arianna is being carried down Montague Road, headed away from the docks, by three people dressed in grey and black." After he said that, he handed his den den mushi to the man.

"Something's wrong?" Connor sounded like he was trying to and understand what was going on through the drunken haze.

"I'll try to slow them down. Call Captain. Now!" The blond steeled himself and dashed away from his friend. Rushing past the people in the crowd to cut the group off.

As soon as he stepped in front of them, they stopped. "Who are you? Where are you planning on taking my friend?"

A blond woman in a light gray trench coat, the lightest dressed of them, spoke up. "Marian Oliver. Medic and hand-to-hand combatant with some weird trick with needles. An average fighter among the crew."

The woman's information on him was incredibly unnerving. The pirate hardened his sapphire eyes to show how serious he was. "I said, who are you?"

"Why don't you take this one Karl?" The large man said lazily.

"Tch. Why do I always get the crap jobs?" This man was smaller than the one carrying Arianna but still a good head taller and bulkier than Oliver himself. This one in particular was wearing thin black pants and a shirt beneath his coat that clung to him like a second skin.

"Because the Boss gave _us_ specific orders for the girl. Just be quick and you might get to join us to finish up." The woman, nearly the medic's height, said as she playfully punched him in the abdomen.

"What are you planning on doing to her?" Oliver demanded, becoming more and more irritated and cautious about the way they ignored him.

"Does it matter? Her, you, your captain, all of those shitfaced idiots in that bar, and the adorably drunken boy you hid in the alley. You're all going to die tonight." The woman said this, utterly certain.

They all laughed amongst themselves while Oliver paled at the mention of the majority of his mates. They were probably in danger too. *_No. Stay focused. They may pretty much all be drunk but Marcus isn't going to be too bad. Besides drunk doesn't necessarily mean defenseless.*_

Just before his eyes, two of the strangers disappeared. Taking Arianna with them, and leaving behind the one that was going to fight him, Karl. "Where'd they go?" He asked himself.

Karl seemed to then teleport right in front of him. "You should focus on me."

The pirates eyes widened as he rushed backwards to put space between them and raised his fists.

The man in black chuckled. "Frightened? But it's such a basic technique amongst our ranks."

When he raised his hand towards him, Oliver put up his guard readying for anything.

"Just like this. _Tobu Shigan: Bachi__." _He seemed to just flick his finger forward but the blond felt a painful force piercing his left bicep.

"AGH!" He looked down at his arm. It was bleeding badly from what appeared to be a hole in his arm.

"Now then my young friend. At least try to entertain me."

()

Marcus heard Connor shout out goodnight to the crew and watched them walk out and a woman walk in as they did. *_It's a bit late for anyone to be just now entering a bar.*_ The pirate thought suspiciously. She was wearing a black cloak-like robe that did little to hide a skin-tight top with what looked like explosions of soft purple and blue that stopped just above her hips to show off a strip of her abdomen over a skirt that stopped an inch above her knees and had some volume to it, which flowed with the same color pattern. Her pastel lilac hair was long and loosely braided over her shoulder with a trail of little orange butterflies, tied together with a crystal yellow and orange butterfly ornament. There were also yellow crystal tear drop earrings with a matching bracelet. She seemed far too delicate to be walking into a bar full of pirates in the middle of the night. No girl who looks like that would ever walk into there without a something that reassures herself that she's safe.

Marcus approached her. If she just wondered in there aimlessly then he'd send her away before something bad happened. If not, then he'd ensure that she failed whatever she was planning before she started. "Do you need some help?"

She looked him up and down for a quick second, then removed her cloak and gently draped it over the back of stool at the bar. "My name is Sofie."

With her cloak off, the back of her top was revealed to have been a ladder of interlacing straps. But more than that, Marcus noticed the reveal of lean and hard muscle.

"What do you want, Sofie?" He wouldn't ignore it. There was too much that was just barely off for him to ignore.

The woman's pale skin seemed to reflect the dim light at the bar, and her jewelry glittered as her she rested her cheek on a hand. She sighed as she looked into his brown eyes with her soft looking powder pink ones. "And here I was hoping to get one drink in before being made."

Her free hand seemed to disappear into her cloak and the moment it did Marcus tried to jump back and create as much distance between them as possible, but the crowded bar did not allow for that. He bumped into a pair of local men, both of whom yelled loudly at him in protest; he ignored their words and instead pushed them to the ground as Sofie lashed her arm out and something long and sharp sliced through several unwitting patrons and nearly sliced the pirates head off. She jerked her elbow in and the weapon pulled itself back to her. He ignored the screaming and scrambling going through the building as the patrons did their best to escape.

As the people cleared out and the woman held still, Marcus got a clear view of her weapon. It looked like a sword but it was segmented; it had a hand guard that had a pink cloth draped from half way down and at the butt of the handle was a small gold loop. The pirate spoke to her as he uncoiled his weapon from his side. "A whipblade, huh? I've only heard of those."

She smiled proudly. "Yep. Looks like you have the same taste of weapons too."

"You guys okay?" The man called back to his crewmates, hearing their drunken moans and curses in the far end of the room.

"For now. We need to get our men out though." Bart called back.

_*Right. The guys drunk off their asses will only get hurt if they try to help.* _Marcus cursed at the majority of the crew's tendency to go overboard in celebrating the arrival of land.

"No, no, no. We can't have that. I'm supposed to kill you all. No one's allowed to get out." The woman's soft voice felt like a stark contrast to her words and intentions.

As one of the more intoxicated crew members, Kalas, attempted to get up and stumble away, Sofie thrusted her weapon forward, sending the sword tip in a straight shot for him. Marcus whipped his rope dart in an upwards motion to redirect the blade just enough for it only slice his cheek and embed itself into the wall, a good 20 feet from the attacker. "Ohh. Nice trick Bandana Boy. But, I do hope you plan on doing more than just playing defense."

He felt his eyebrows twitch at the stupid nickname. "Marcus. If you're going to insist on calling me anything than use my name."

She giggled. "Whatever you say." Then lashed her blades at him, whipping and shifting it around to make the impact point difficult to read.

Luckily this was a technique that Marcus himself was familiar with, so he understood that watching her hand was far more important than the weapon itself. He jumped to the left and rolled on his side, sweeping his dart wide to slash at her ankles. She back flipped onto the bar top and laughed in enjoyment. "You might be fun, Marcus." Sofie spoke in a singsong voice.

He readied himself for her next attack. Behind him, Marcus heard Kai shout out. "Stop flirting with her and kill the bitch!"

"WHAT?!" The medic turned to glare at the accuser and the lilac haired woman gave a short chuckle.

"Sorry, but you're not my type Marcus."

"I WASN'T FLIRTING!" He was clearly flustered by the sudden development.

A large metal hammer was suddenly flying past the shouting man and crashed into the bar where the woman had been standing less than a second ago, before she virtually disappeared to a table top ten feet away. The word "_Soru._" could faintly be heard from her.

They both looked at Bart; he seemed annoyed. "Can we get this fight moving already?"

"I suppose." The woman said, shrugging.

While the odd distraction of possible flirting was going on Austin and Newt had begun shuffling their totally inebriated and unconscious comrades out of the building. Sofie took notice of this. "If you're going to keep trying to escape outside, I might as well just remove the difference."

She raised her weapon and spun it around quickly at a blurring speed, creating a whirling sound. It seemed like her weapon began to glow a white-blue until the light extended past the blade entirely. "_Kaze no Katto: Amane Dachi._"

The building sliced clear through and the walls began to slide. She then changed up her arm movements into the erratic movement similar to her earlier attack. "_Kaze no Katto: Cho no Mure_."

This time the lights emitted from her whipblade emitted short crescent slashes from each blade segment. Combined with the rapid movement of her weapon, it looked like hundreds of blades rained up into the air and reducing the detached part of the structure into little pieces of stone that could barely be called rubble. "Technically, these techniques were created to be kicks, known as _Rankyaku_. But, I adjusted it and, in my opinion, it's become much more effective."

The crew watched the display before them in utter shock and fear. Not only had the bar been destroyed but all the buildings in view seemed to have been cut by her first strike. *_How are we supposed to all survive this?*_

()

Law and his group ran down the plank and onto the dock but didn't make it far. They stepped on the stone ground and the pirate captain felt a cord go taut against his ankle. "ROOM. Shambles!"

He was quick to use his devil fruit power to get the pirates out of danger and to a warehouse opening across from the ship just in time for them to avoid a small explosion.

"That wasn't there before!" Bepo exclaimed.

"Everyone okay?" Law asked.

"Yeah. I think so." Thomas answered.

Law focused on searching for an enemy. Bepo was right, that trap was not there when they entered the ship. Someone had waited for them and set it up after they arrived. When he couldn't see anything he opened his Haki to try and anticipate what will come next. He felt something coming straight at the group and slashed horizontally, letting his Room vivisect it. What was approaching them was a curved blue streak that hit the ground and warehouse with an explosion. Law had never seen an attack like it before.

He held his sword ready in front of his three subordinates as an excruciatingly average looking man of average height, standing a few inches below Law himself, with dull black hair and grey eyes and a skin tone that was neither dark nor pale. The only thing that visually differentiated him from any other person was that he was dressed in a black trench coat with grey trimmings. "Who are you supposed to be?"

The man sighed, pulling black gloves over his hands. "I am John. A member of CP8."

The mention of the Cipher Pol assassination group was a complete surprise to the captain and his comrades. Law let the shock roll off of him though and proceeded to taunt the man. "Oh? I have to say, it's been a while since the Navy sent anyone after us. I was beginning to wonder if they were giving up."

John began undoing his coat buttons to let it open up. "It's more accurate to say that you've been so boring lately that they've lost interest in you."

The reply irked Law. *_So we're not being vicious enough for the Navy to care about us anymore?_ _I can fix that.*_

Before Law voiced anything to that affect though, the agent resumed speaking. "Even now. You are not the target. It is more accurate to say that wiping out the Heart Pirates is more of a perk of this assignment."

"WHAT?! We're a fucking perk? Then what's on this island that's actually more important than us?" Clyde shouted in anger. But Law's mind was already working fast enough to understand what they were after.

"Arianna-ya was the target. You also stole our money as a distraction, or perhaps a _perk_." The pirate captain stated his suspicion with a cold voice.

"Hm? That's a good theory, though I cannot confirm nor deny it since I myself do not know the assignment. We were ordered to kill you while we're here though." The man was calm and he definitely struck Law as someone who follows orders without even thinking about their purpose or reasons.

"Don't worry. She is probably still alive." The assassin said out of nowhere. "The woman we took. For whatever reason, two of our agents were given specific orders for her. If you're lucky, you'll find her corpse once they're done."

The way he talked about her, like the only thing they'd find of her is a corpse was pissing Law off more than he expected. Sure, he has moments where he wants to ditch her, or even kill her, but she was still a Heart Pirate, still a member of Law's crew and the idea of anyone saying they will only find a dead body was making his blood boil. "Arianna-ya is not a pushover. She won't die as easily as you think."

"Yeah! Ari-chan's one of the strongest fighters on the crew! She'll kill you first!" Bepo shouted in agreement and defense of his friend.

"So you say, and so we've heard. Yet she was unconscious before the poor pawn even made it to her room. She didn't even flinch when she was tossed from the deck to us."

_*What? Arianna's a light sleeper. Was she drugged beforehand?* _Law tried to make sense of how she could've been taken so easily when he heard his den den mushi go off.

He answered, knowing it had to have been an emergency by now, though never taking his eyes off of John.

"Captain? That you?" It was Connor. A drunk one at that.

"Yeah. What is it?"

"I'm not all that sure about what's going on but Oliver just stopped three people in the street. They're carrying Half-Pint since she's sleeping. Um…" He paused. Law could tell he was trying to remember what he was supposed to say through the drunken haze. "They were going towards the far end of the city with her on Montague Street but two of them got away with her."

_*Shit! They're already half way through the city!*_

"Only three? Sounds like someone took a side trip to kill all of the men in that bar. Probably Sofie. She prefers mass murder over stealth kills."

If Law was scowling at the man before he was absolutely glaring now.

"Captain. You and Bepo should go." Surprisingly, it was Clyde who spoke up.

"Clyde and I were supposed to guard the ship and we failed. Let us make it up to you." Thomas said as he stepped forward, slipping on his knuckles.

Law nodded to his men and he and his partner made a few steps towards the city only to be intercepted by John, who seemingly teleported in front of them. He pulled a blade the length of the captain's forearm and swung at him to decapitate the pirate. Law grabbed Bepo's arm and used his command. "Shambles."

He reappeared in place of an ambiguous crate at the far end of the street and they continued on, trusting the pair left behind to take care of the deadly man.

()

The soft laughter of Sofie almost went unheard. "Alright boys. Let's see who the last man standing will be." She shifted her stance sideways. "_Rankyaku: Usagi."_ This time the light came from her kick and it bounced along the ground in a zigzag tract at a rapid speed. Marcus and Bart split up to dodge the strike but it rebounded off a table with a slice and jumped in the medic, creating a gash on his calf the length of his hand. "Ngh!"

"Marcus, you okay?" Bart shouted in concern, as he did Sofie sent her snake like weapon straight at him like an arrow.

He jumped forward angled to his left to avoid it but she jerked her hand causing the extending blade to curve over and slice the large man's back.

Marcus wanted to look at his comrade and make sure he was okay but he knew he couldn't afford to take his eyes off his opponent. "Bart. Help get everyone to safety. As the crew is now they are practically fish in a barrel."

As he spoke the murderous woman lashed her blade down on him and when he backed away to dodge she snapped it like a whip and nearly sliced him in half, but he was able to slow the blade enough with a bar stool to get out of its path.

"Don't be stupid! You can't fight her alone!" The former captain called back as he rushed to retrieve his hammer. He got his hand on it just when Sofie appeared before him.

"Who's going to watch his back? You?" She said with a smile as she was eye to eye with him.

Bart swung his hammer with the inclined end up. She smiled and spoke in a whispering voice. "Kami-e."

The force of Bart's attack seemed to push her back like a leaf before the weapon itself made any contact. She landed safely back on the bar top and Marcus threw his dagger as a straight projectile in an attempt to pin her down but she caught the blade between her index and middle fingers. She tilted her lilac head to look at him and the pirate could see her laughing at him in her eyes.

Marcus growled at the way she behaved. As if he was a joke to her.

He yanked the blade out of her fingers and whipped it left to her face and when she lifted her blade hilt to guard. As she did he redirected his strike to cut her right abdomen where her snowy skin was exposed. Though instead of showing pain or even so much as irritation she wiped the blood on to her index finger and looked at it. She looked at Marcus again, wiping her blood over her lips, painting them red like lipstick. She then smiled softly. "I really love the color red. It's beautiful isn't it? I was always told I have too soft of an appearance for it."

She swung her blade back towards her and when the blade segments were close together she pulled the cloth that hung from the guard of her sword and the segments drew together and locked into place as she looped it through the ornamental ring at the bottom of the hilt. "_Soru._"

She vanished and appeared in between Kai and Newt, who were just about finished getting everyone out of harm's way, and were currently carrying out Austin and Kuma respectively. Flourishing her sword with a twirl as if it were a baton, Sofie then drove her sword through Kai's leg and into his femur to slice it through to the outside of his thigh. Without a waste in her movements, she stabbed Austin sideways through his abdomen but this time withdrew her blade in the same manner it went in so that she could spin her whole body slashed Kuma's chest and the left centered side of Newt's neck in one swoop. The four men fell virtually at once as their attacker stood in the center, allowing there blood to splatter her delicate looking body. She looked to Marcus and Bart as they watched their friends being cut down in an instant and she smiled sweetly as she explained. "Since I'm not allowed to wear red whenever I want then I'll coat myself in it when the opportunity presents itself."

"LITTLE BITCH!" Marcus yelled savagely, swinging his rope dart at her but keeping the movements erratic so that she won't be able to catch it the way she previously had. At least, that was the hope. While she didn't catch the blade again, she had deflected it and sent the weapon's point into the sky above him. Bart however used the man's attack as a distraction and charged in close, throwing his hammer first when she saw him, sending it spinning at her horizontally and lower to the ground so that she'll jump to avoid and when she did the large man punched her with all of his strength. She protected herself with her forearms. "_Tekkai._"

When the pirate's fist made contact it felt like he was hitting steel again and he groaned as she was sent flying across the ruins of the bar.

Marcus rushed to their fallen friends, looking at Newt first and was relieved to see that Kuma was keeping his hand firmly over the smaller man's neck, successfully preventing a dangerous amount of blood from pouring out of the injury.

Bart stood with his back to the group and held his weapon at a ready. Without looking back he spoke to Marcus. "I know you want to prove you're stronger than her but you're the only medic here now. Take care of them and let me take care of her."

He didn't like it but he understood the role he needed to fulfill. "Kill the bitch."

"Gladly!" He cried, charging the woman again.

"Good luck." Sofie was ready.

When Bart was in close enough for his weapon to make contact he slammed the flat side down over her head. Sofie twirled herself around and used the momentum as added force to swing her blade and push his strike back. To his utter shock it was successful and he was pushed off balance. He stumbled slightly and when she saw that she delivered a roundhouse kick, using her odd technique to make up for the distance between her and her target. "_Rankyaku: Hoippu._" The light that cut through the short distance to Bart was thick and oblong shaped. When it made contact in one point at his chest the rest of the stream snapped and slammed into him. The impact was blunt but cutting and the force was enough to send him to the ground.

He never released his grip on the hammer and when he saw her above him, coming down with her blade pointed at his face, Bart used it like a swatter and sent her as far away from him as he could. He heard her grunt as she crashed into the bar counter.

Bart returned to his feet and used his weapon like a golf club, firing a table at the woman. Despite not having been able to pull herself out of the wood Sofie was able to use her locked whipblade to cut the table to pieces and avoid any injuries. He kept moving towards her, firing off another piece of furniture at her. She cut through this one too and when she saw that Bart was only two steps behind it, she released the locking mechanism on her weapon and swiped the blade in an upward sweeping motion to disrupt his charge.

With the pirate no longer attacking she decided to take a different approach to this battle and jumped into the air. Bart watched and waited for her jump to peak but instead she seemed to remain suspended in the air, bouncing from one foot to the other. From her higher vantage, Sofie began a new onslaught. "_Kaze no Katto: Cho no Mure._"

Bart spun the hammer as quickly as he could to shield himself but couldn't keep all of the light blades from making contact, his face and arms taking the brunt of the strikes. When the rain of blades was over she sent the point of her blade to him again. He jumped to his left and not waiting for her to redirect her weapon to slice him again, he started launching tables and chairs or any other debris he could find around him. Sofie didn't try to guard against the projectiles and instead danced through the air, letting them slip around her. Bart had to admit; the way she flitted around, she looked like one of the butterflies she decorated her hair with.

She seemed to send her whipblade straight at him again, but this time she looped it just before to reached him and the sharp segments completely encircled him. Bart had to make a choice on what to protect so he turned his hammer to stand parallel with his body and protect his chest and throat. He saw the cords and segments go taunt and close around him and realized that he felt no pain at his back, only his arms. He turned his head and looked down to see Marcus was back to back with him, his rope dart cord wrapped tightly around his forearm and using it as a bracer against the sword pieces.

They smiled to each other and in sync pushed against the weapon coiled around them. The force pulled Sofie down slightly but she released them to prevent herself from being yanked to the ground.

"The boys?" Bart asked.

"Stable. Shachi is watching them."

"There's a comfort." The larger man said sarcastically.

"Drunk or not, the man knows what he's doing. He's the only one Captain will allow to perform surgery when he's unavailable after all."

"Alright. What's the plan?"

They both looked at the woman, she was skipping and jumping in the air to return to her previous elevation. "Like I said. Kill the bitch."

Bart raised his hammer and slammed it cone side down into the wood flower and concrete beneath, loosening up rubble. He once again launched the debris into the air. She danced and skipped around in the air. Sofie tried to go back on the offensive but Bart would not let up. All the while Marcus watched and waited.

When Bart sent a piece of rubble that almost grazed her, the medic saw his opportunity. Deciding to take a lesson from Arianna's hunting, he used Bart as a springboard and jumped into the air to get closer her. The large navigator sent a piece of rubble at the woman in the air to corner her and Marcus snared her ankle with his cord. He turned his body in a spiral and threw her down towards the ground. Once she was in reach, Bart swung his hammer up and slammed it down with his full strength, slamming her into the ground and creating a crater. They could hear her call out "Tekkai!" as she tried to protect herself.

Marcus landed down on the ground just on the edge of the damage. Bart lifted his hammer and gave them a view of her body limp in the center of destruction with blood trickling out of her nose, mouth, ears and eyes.

The men looked at each other. Bart chuckled. "Good plan."

()

Oliver watched his opponent closely. He didn't know how the man had teleported before but he was going to keep a close eye on the man in hopes of being able to see when Karl was going to do it. Despite the close eye he was keeping on the man, when the assassin teleported in front of him again Oliver wasn't able to see how it happened and was thrown forward when he felt a stabbing force in his left shoulder blade. He landed about a meter in front of where he had been standing; he reached his hand over his shoulder and felt the warm wetness of blood, his assailant's index finger was extended and dripping blood now.

"You're too slow kid." The man said.

Oliver did the only thing he can. He got back on his feet and raised his fists in a loose and open stance. He decided before the fight ever began, he wasn't going to die here. Rather than wait for the faster man to come to him, the blond dashed forward on the offensive. He got in close and shot out a fury of jabs aimed at the Karl's joints and abdomen. The whispering sound of a word found its way to his ears. "Kami-e."

All of his strikes hit nothing but air. Despite his larger build, the CP8 agent practically floated away from the hits. When he finally took a solid step back his body went ridged and he released a sharp kick. "Rankyaku."

The blue light that came from the kick hit Connor with a strong impact and he was back on the ground, coughing blood. *_Not good. I can't even get a hit in.*_

"I suppose Elena wasn't kidding when she said you were an _average _fighter. You need to be better than average to even attempt to challenge me."

Oliver glared at him and started getting back to his feet once more. "I'll just have try a bit harder than, won't I?"

Karl got a sadistic smirk on his face that was something akin to Law's. "If you insist. _Soru._"

He once again seemed to teleport just in front of his injured opponent. "_Shigan: Ouren._"

Oliver saw the slight movement in the man's legs that meant he was going to move so he had immediately put up a guard and was happy he did. Not even a second later his body was met with a barrage of attacks that felt like he was being shot dozens of time over. He didn't even want to think about the holes and damage being done to his arms and shoulders. He could still feel his hands and fingers and at the moment that bit of good fortune was all he was going to think about.

When the violent assault was over Karl stood in place, leaving his right index finger in Oliver's shoulder. "If you want to give up and just let me kill you, you can. I won't tell anyone, and you won't be alone for long. Your friend will be with you soon enough after."

"Fuck you." In a rare moment, Oliver cursed the man and punched him in the right side of his jaw. It hurt Oliver more than it did the target.

"We have a technique called _Tekkai _in which we trained our bodies to be as hard as steel when needed. Unlike the others, I decided to always keep my body at the density of steel."

"You're wrong... Your body is still weak enough for me to hurt." The assassin's eyebrow twitched in agitation and he raised his left hand, angling his fingers into a spear. He was going to kill him now.

Before Karl could shove his hand through the pirate's throat, Oliver tightened his left fist and kept the middle knuckle of his index finger out and punched his attacker's right wrist. When his hand when limp the man hesitated his fatal attack for a second to look at it, but that was enough time for Oliver to take a step forward and jab him in the left shoulder in the same manner. At that the man said "_Soru!_" and retreated from range completely. At a safe distance from the pirate, he lifted his dangling right hand and was visibly struggling to raise his left arm entirely. "What did you do?!"

"8 pounds of pressure and 18.9 pounds of pressure." Oliver said calmly.

"What?!" Karl wasn't nearly as calm.

"You say you trained your body to be as strong as steel, but the truth is that's only your muscles can be trained. It isn't muscle that protects joints, it's joint capsules and fluid. No matter how hard you train your body to take a hit it will always be riddled with weak points. It only takes 8 pounds of pressure per square inch to dislocate a human wrist and 18.9 for the shoulder."

The Cipher Pol agent's face contorted with rage. "_Geppo!_"

Now he was in the air, well out of Oliver's range. As he stepped off the air he started putting more force into his legs. "_Rankyaku: Sen_!"

The blue strikes came down directly on Oliver position. He only had one chance so it needed to work. He carefully pictured the way Karl's legs and feet moved when he was vanishing and mentally dissected the intricate ways the muscles and tendons and ligaments need to move to flex in that exact way. Doing his best to replicate it, Oliver found himself two feet forward and out of the way of the strike. From his new position he had a clear view of his opponents back and slipped a long needle out of the holding bracer beneath his sleeve and threw it into the back of the man's knee and through the collateral ligaments and lateral meniscus, rendering his knee practically useless as a joint. Without the use of his left leg, Karl was unable to maintain his elevation and started falling to the ground. "I won't loss like this!" He shouted desperately.

Giving up entirely on using his right foot to slow his fall he instead shot off another kick, rotating his entire body like a corkscrew with his leg. "_Rankyaku:_ _Tatsumaki_."

The light that shot off was like a tornado coming down on him. Oliver used the stepping technique that he copied from the man again. He stumble, his body utterly exhausted but managed to avoid taking the whole attack, only getting the shockwave from when it impacted, but he knew he wasn't getting up this time. He heard Karl's body thud to the ground and after a few seconds of struggling to get his face off the street he saw that the man was dragging himself to Oliver by the right arm with a deranged look in his eyes. "I'm going to kill you… if it's the last thing I do."

He got himself next to Oliver, who couldn't pick himself up to escape. He could only raise his arms pitifully in defense. Karl bit his right hand and yanked it back in place, rolling his wrist to confirm. Once again, he raised his hand with his fingers in a spear. "_Gosshigan_!"

Oliver was certain he was going to die. He watched as the hand that was going to kill him came down. Only… it went limp and his field of vision was splattered with blood.

Connor stood against Karl's back, his claw-shaped trident tearing its way through the killer's ribcage and exiting through his chest with his heart. For an odd moment, Oliver was fascinated with the way the heart itself stayed mostly intact as it was forcing its way out and the arteries and veins tore or were cut. Perhaps it was the way everything seemed to be moving in slow motion but he could swear he could count the blood droplets as they spread and splattered from the hole that was made through the man's chest.

That moment of slowness and fascination passed and it felt like all at once that he was covered in a now dead man's blood. The way it splashed into his mouth and surely flowed into his open wounds disgusted the blond medic.

Connor flung the body off to the side and off of his weapon and leaned over Oliver. "You okay?! Ollie?!"

He kind of wanted to laugh at the ridiculously obvious-answer question. "No. I'm not okay, but I'll live. Did you get a hold of Captain?"

The black haired man helped his companion sit up as he answered. "Yeah. I told him what was going on. He'll probably be closing in on us now."

Oliver sighed, letting himself relax. There was nothing more he can do and Law was aware of the situation. Everything will be fine. "Thanks for the save."

Connor sat beside him. "Well, you know. I've got a life time of saves to make up for."

()

John stood at a ready, facing Clyde and Thomas. His machete held up with his left hand and leading with his right. Thomas was the first to make a move, charging in after the man with a straight right punch. John back stepped and Thomas threw a left punch; rapidly shooting out each fist in succession as his opponent back and sidestepped out of the way each time.

The CP8 agent took one last step back then swung his weapon horizontally at just the right height to cut off the cooks arm at the shoulder. Thomas adjusted his hold on the knuckles in his hand so that they extended out a centimeter from his fingers and punched to intercept the blade. His ears rang from the sound of metal slamming into metal and he gritted his teeth as the impact of his modified grip caused his brass knuckles to brace against his palm in a way they weren't meant to.

John released his hold on the machete, allowing it to fly from his hand. He shot both fists just a breath away from Thomas' chest and released a blast of energy. "_Rokuogan._"

The force that blasted through the pirate made left him wondering if his heart was actually still beating. He was on the ground, coughing up so much blood from his lungs that it looked like he was vomiting.

"_Soru._" The assassin vanished from sight but reappeared a second later with his blade lightly held on the chef's neck. He raised it, preparing to slice through his neck, but on the raise a loud shot rang out and John was faced with a spray of copper pellets. Oddly, for a man of his speed, he didn't avoid the shot and simply looked down at himself as blood started seeping into his black shirt, making it stick to his abdomen. Clyde reloaded his blunderbuss with a shell of rock salt and fired another round at the man. This one he did avoid, allowing the mechanic to make it to Thomas' side. "You going to be okay?"

Thomas pushed himself to his feet but couldn't stand upright just yet. "I guess."

He was still having trouble breathing and had the feeling that it wasn't going to change anytime soon.

"Sorry. I only got him with some bird shot. If I had thought he'd just take it I would've used something more lethal."

"I'm just happy you got him away."

"_Soru._" The sound of his voice gave the pair about a half second to brace themselves for the assassins' approach. He stood with his left foot pulled back for a kick which Thomas intercepted with a quick jab of his own. He knew he had to stand strong no matter the pain. There was no way Clyde would survive this man alone. Hell, they'll be lucky to survive him together.

After his kick was repelled, John swung his machete at Thomas for a decapitation which he ducked and Clyde stopped the blade with the metal barrel of his gun. John gripped the handle for a backhand and turned himself to cut into the gunner's head. With their attacker focused on the mechanic, the sandy blond stepped into the man and grabbed him by the collar yanking his face forward into the boxer's reinforced punch and preventing him from killing his comrade. The moment of impact for the assassin was also met with another wave of pain for Thomas, this one was weaker than the last and in his lower abdomen. Now he really did feel like throwing up. While the man was still in close proximity Clyde swung the wooden butt of his blunderbuss like a club, aiming for the remainder of his left eye socket that the boxer's punch had just shattered since a shot with the barrel that close to his partner's head could blow out his ear drums.

"_Kami-e_." John said as he seemed to float away, avoiding the attack for a change.

Clyde looked over at the sound of Thomas heaving and hacking as he emptied the contents of his stomach. He immediately looked back at his opponent, expecting him to take any second of distraction to kill them. It was then that he saw something encouraging. "Tom-san, look."

The man in black may have been on his feet just fine but he was likely completely blind in his injured eye and was panting. Thomas saw this and took it as a sign. "You don't avoid attacks and you use your strongest move right off the bat because you want to finish this fight as quickly as possible, huh?"

"Yes. Which is exactly why we're done talking. _Soru._"

John appeared just behind the pair and stabbed through Clyde. It happened so fast that neither man could immediately process what was happening; they could only look at the blade protruding from his stomach. It seemed that it was only after it had been removed that they could act on it.

"Clyde!" Thomas screamed as he charged at the assailant and punched three consecutive fists, ducking away when the blade came after him and punching the arm at the elbow to try and push him away. He was successful and the chef kneeled next to a collapsed Clyde. He was in obvious pain and held a hand over his stomach to try and slow the bleeding.

"Don't waste your time on me!"

Just as he turned to face his opponent again Thomas was struck with a powerful kick that felt like lead, sending him to the ground. He took John's condition in as best he could. He's elbow was definitely angled the wrong direction and he was clearly feeling the fatigue. He also had his machete raised to try and cut Thomas' head off again. So he did the most unexpected thing he could. The boxer kicked the man straight up into the groin and rolled out of the way.

"GAH!" John fell to his knees in pain.

As soon as he did Clyde had his blunderbuss against his back and fired a shell full of metal shards and various types of shrapnel, effectively blowing a hole through the man's chest and splattering the stone ground with bone fragments and bits of various tissue. When he fell the two pirates looked at each other. The mechanics now paled face looked a bit horrified. "Really? A nut shot? I don't care who he's trying to kill, no man deserves that."

"You're welcome for getting you an opening." Thomas ignored his horror and now just wanted to lay there. Though with the fight over, he did kind of feel bad about it.

* * *

**Chapter Ended! Holy shit that took a long time but I think it was worth it :) I prefer writing long chapters it's just a bit harder since I want everything to be worth your time reading (Kitty Amelie: *staring* "Then what the fuck was up with chapter 18?" Me: "WE DON'T SPEAK ABOUT THAT BASTARD CHILD CHAPTER!")**

**Attack translations. They were done by google so sorry they are probably bad. :/**

**_Tobu Shingen: Bachi_**** – ****Flying finger gun: Plectrum**

**_Kaze no Katto: Amane Dachi_**** – ****Wind cut: Circumference Severe**

**_Kaze no Katto: Cho no Mure_**** – ****Wind cut: Butterfly Swarm**

**_Rankyaku: Usagi _****– ****Storm leg: Bunny**

**Rankyaku: Hoippu – Storm leg: whip**

**Rankyaku: Tatsumaki – Storm leg: Twister**

**Gosshigan – Five finger gun**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`):**

**Sarge1130: I put your actual reply in the next chapter and when you read it you'll see why**


	21. Chapter 21

**Just in case you missed it this was a double release so if you didn't read chapter 20 you should probably do that, I've got badass boys being badass ;) This is the second half of what was originally a chapter so big even I didn't want to read it in one sitting and I wrote it.**

* * *

**Chapter 21**

Law and Bepo rushed through the crowded streets together. The people were no longer all happy and partying, they were quiet, huddled in groups and looking in fear towards the inner city. His crew was fighting the other members of CP8 and it worried him. He left them over an hour ago and the majority of them weren't in condition to fight. He has to hope that the few who were are holding their own.

The further into the city that they ran the thinner the crowd grew, meaning they were getting close to the battleground. "Captain, look! Wasn't that were the bar was?"

Law looked at forward at the now empty space where the roof of the bar that once held the majority of his crew. As they got closer he saw that the base of the building was still intact and the stone wall had been cut clean through. He also saw a cluster of his men gathered near the building. "Shachi! Is everyone alright?"

The green and pink hatted man looked up at his captain, along with all of the other men. "Captain! We're going to be okay. Newt, Austin, and Kai got the worst of it but Marcus and I got everyone stable. He and Bart took care of the woman who attack us."

"Good work. Connor and Oliver are down further the road. Have you heard anything from them?"

"No. Penguin took Marcus and Kalas to go find them."

"You sent _Kalas_?" Law was a bit unsettled by this. He was a good man and great fighter sure, but he was also the first to get drunk and last to get sober on any given chance.

Shachi understood his concern and smiled a bit. "Nothing sobers a guy up like almost getting killed."

"I SMELL THEM!" Bepo shouted, interrupting them. Law glanced at him, his nose and ears twitching slightly as he focused them, then looked down the street in the direction they would've gone to return to their hotel. Penguin, Marcus, Kalas and Connor were all walking while Oliver was leaning on the latter for support.

Bepo rushed to them and fussed slightly around his blood-covered friend until they made it to the rest of the crew. "Oliver. Anything permeant?" Law asked.

"He just poked some holes in me. Nothing I think that can't be fixed." He was trying to sound certain but was clearly in need of medical attention.

"All of you start heading back to the ship. The people attacking us are CP8 and one of their agents is there fighting Thomas and Clyde. If they need help do what you can. Shachi and Marcus start treatments. Marcus you start with Oliver and Shachi will start with Kai, then work your way through Austin then Newt, Koma, Bart, and then treat yourself Marcus. Take care of Thomas and Clyde at whatever priority they need. Shachi do not try any surgeries, there's still alcohol in your system even if the adrenalin is sobering you up quickly and I don't want any complications. Stabilizing and maintaining everyone's condition only. Oliver you're a patient only tonight. Am I understood?" The pirate captain issued his orders to the crew.

"Yes sir!" Though the majority of his orders were directed at the three medics the whole of his crew answered, even Bepo.

The pirate crew began shuffling away and back to their ship but Connor stopped with Oliver still being held up by him. Law looked at the pair until the dark haired man asked his question. "You're getting Half-Pint back too, right?"

Law smirked and Bepo clenched his fists with a confident gleam in his eyes. "Killing the last two agents and getting her back is the first thing on my list."

"I don't think they are the only agents left." Oliver said weakly, earning a curious look from Connor and Bepo.

"Why do you say that?" The bear asked.

"The woman mentioned a boss. I suppose it just could've been someone from Marine HQ but…"

"Cipher Pol field teams are usually lead by another agent." Law finished his thought. The blond was right. Chances are there's another assassin running around somewhere. He looked back to the two men. "I'll keep that in mind. Get back to the ship. Now."

They nodded and this time actually left.

"Let's get going." The man said to his comrade, whom nodded with a determined look.

The two resumed walking down the streets, turning on Montague and after a few minutes came upon what was clearly the scene of Oliver's fight, the corpse of his opponent still lying on the cobble stone street in a pool of blood from the hole that went through where his heart had previously resided rather than the gutter that it now did. *_Good work guys.* _He thought proudly of his men. Law tried to continue walking but saw that Bepo was stopped in front of many small puddles of blood. "Oliver's?"

The bear nodded sadly.

"We just talked to him. Stop acting like you're mourning a friends death and let's go." He said sternly.

"I'm sorry." Bepo said dejected and slowly walked back to captain's side with his head hung.

Law sighed. It wasn't that he didn't care. Just the opposite. If Oliver's suspicion is right and the group's leader is still around Law was going to pay him back for all the pain he's men inflicted on his crew. But they can't do that if they keep stopping and every second they spent there was another second closer to Arianna's possible death. Only, where do they go from there?

"Bepo. Can you tract which way they went?"

He got his determined expression back. "I'll do my best!"

With that the bear sniffed around the area but got a disappointed look on his face. "I can't find her scent. Connor said she was being carried didn't he? Her scent never touched the ground."

Law took a second to think. "Track the people who took her then."

Bepo nodded and sniffed the corpse, then sniffed around again until he apparently found where he stood and sniffed intently to the point that Law could see his nose twitching from a distance. "Got them!" The bear announced and raced off with his friend following behind.

Bepo lead his captain through the heart of the city and past crowds of people who seemed to be oblivious to the violence that had been happening between the government agents and the pirate crew. They did however get strange looks, likely because of the bear and the fact that they were running through the sidewalks and streets. It wasn't until they reached the edge of the city's building where the surrounding broke away into a short grassy expanse just before the massive forest that they stopped. Two people stood in their way and neither had his missing crewmember. Neither was a woman actually, meaning that these two men were standing between Law and Arianna.

One of the men seemed a bit scrawny, he had no hair but a graying beard that covered his whole chin and wrinkles that he didn't quite seem old enough to have yet. Similar to John, he wore a black trench coat though it seemed to make him appear smaller. The man standing a step in front of him was tall but not quite so much as Law. He was clearly well groomed, his dark brown hair comb back and face perfectly shaved. He wore a black suit with grey pin-stripe with a samurai sword hanging from his belt. This was the man that spoke. "Hello Trafalgar Law. I am Marcel, leader of CP8, this is Stefan. We've been waiting for you. What took so long?"

()

Elena practically skipped along happily as her partner Gonzo followed behind. She knew that of CP8 she was called the weakest but she was also the most valuable. A status that she enjoyed thoroughly. Elena didn't like dirtying her own hands which went along great when you were always standing beside someone who loved to get up close and personal to take out his targets. Besides with her power, there was very little work for her hands to perform. All it takes is a touch. A touch from her and her victims' minds are hers to explore and manipulate. Manipulate the mind and the body automatically follows.

Thanks to the power she held over people Elena always felt a sense of superiority. Sure she never cared enough about the Rokushiki or put much effort into mastering the complete set of techniques, but why bother? She had a handle on the basics of each one, and it's not as if she is ever in need of using them anyways. So maybe the rest of the squad looked down on her for it. She'd have to care about their opinions to be hurt by them. The only one whose opinion did matter to her was Gonzo. They were friends and primed to be partners since before CP8, and they will be long after this little initiation is completed.

Elena looked over at their target. A woman-child who actually remained dead asleep the entirety of her own kidnapping. She hadn't even made a single noise or movement when the woman used the idiot pirate who approached to help her off the ground. He lifted her out of the bed and carried her outside and threw her to the assassins waiting below. "Hey, Gonzo. Why exactly is this girl so special that she needs to be killed as the only priority?"

"Aren't you supposed to be the one with the answers?" The large man answered back, teasingly.

"But, I mean, come on. She has barely moved once. Anyone worth the effort we are having to go to the woods to kill would not stay asleep with all of this."

"No kidding. But you heard Marcel, the orders were clear. Take her at least a twenty minute walk out of the city before killing her. Apparently the big Boss is concerned about leaving a trace of her for the bear to track."

"Why care? None of the pirates are going to make it past tonight anyways?" Elena still couldn't understand how Gonzo was able to always keep calm when dealing with crap orders. The only reason she wasn't throwing a fit was because she at least had him.

"I'm pretty sure killing the Heart Pirates was Marcel's decision. It didn't sound like the Boss has any interest in the pirates. Just this girl."

"Yeah, I gue- Oh, finally! We're here." Elena cut her own sentence off as they approached a couple of shovels that they had left to mark the chosen location.

Gonzo placed Arianna down, grabbed a shovel and began digging.

Elena examined their captive's face and then sat down to watch her partner do the dirty work. There was no way she was digging a hole. *_Besides. Gonzo can do this quickly enough on his own.* _She thought with a smile.

"Is there a reason I'm the only one digging?" To her surprise, he called her out on her laziness.

"What? Someone has to watch the girl." She said slyly.

He continued on his hole but it didn't stop him from poking a hole in her excuse. "She hasn't moved once this entire time and now you think she's just going to spring to life. Also you were the one who suggested burying her alive. Remember?"

"What can I say? Why take the chance?"

"Sure…" He teased.

"If you remember, I said we should dig the hole _first_. That way we can just drop the girl in there."

"And walk around looking like we dug a grave? The point of being an assassin to remain unnoticed."

"Only one of us would've looked like we've dug a grave." She teased back.

They both chuckled as the conversation died away. Though it was just an excuse, Elena did watch Arianna's sleeping body. It was because she was that she saw the girl's hand and expression twitch. "Looks like she might finally be waking up."

"Hm." Gonzo hummed back as he continued the grave.

The CP8 woman starting getting a twitching need in her hand. Why was this girl so special that she needed a special death? *_I know Marcel specifically said not to but… How could I not take a peek?*_

Elena grabbed onto Arianna's face and placed her index and middle fingers against the girl's temples. She summoned her devil fruit power. "OPEN."

…

With that simple command her mind was taken into her captive's. Or at least it was supposed to. Every human mind she had ever forced herself into was organized in some manner. A library, a house, pictures and paintings. Something that held information, feelings and memories. But this mind was empty of anything that resembled cognitive thought. She projected her body into the space to give herself a cohesive point of focus and looked all around her. "Nasty, foggy forest all around."

This mind looked like place from some scary story that usually involves lines like "Once upon a time…" or "In a cursed land…"

Elena started walking to see if the dark oak trees extended beyond her vision or if there was actually something useful in this head. It turns out that not only does the forest get darker the more she walks but the fog gets thicker. She couldn't help but get nervous. This mind was nothing like she's ever experienced. She turned to go back the way she came in hopes that the increasing creepiness was just a sign that she was going the wrong way, but no matter how much she walked her surroundings never returned to how they were when she arrived. "What the hell?" She said and slammed her fist against a tree.

Upon contact the tree took on a bluish shine before opening itself up and pulling her in. "AHH!"

She screamed in panic, but it quickly subsided and was replaced with a dull sadness when she found herself standing on an old wooden ship. After a moment people materialized, coming together as if made of dust all around her and they were looking at her with sadness. "Oui lyh ymfyoc lryhka ouin seht, Anna." A man spoke in a language Elena had never heard before. Thankfully, because she was in the head of someone who did, the words did make sense to her. The man said "You can always change your mind, Anna"

Elena looked at the man who spoke. He was tall and well-muscled, not so much as Gonzo but still impressive, and had messy dark brown hair. She was almost shocked when she saw his red irises and scars from some kind of animal's claw running down his cheek and collar bone before disappearing under his odd looking shirt and brown fur vest. *_Ike.* _Knowledge of who he was suddenly entered her mind.

"Bmayca cec, cdyo fedr ic." ("Please sis, stay with us.") This time a woman with beautiful black hair that was tied back behind her head in a looping braid, and eyes as blue as the ocean spoke up. *_Raven.* _Her name became clear too. Her clothes struck Elena as odd as well. When she looked at the appearance of all the people around her, she saw that they were all wearing animal furs over old looking clothes with muted colors that were either tied or layered and draped over the person.

"E lyh'd. E lyh'd meja ajano tyo drehgehk dryd ed femm pa dutyo dryd drao lusa pylg vun ic. E's y Rihdan. Ed'c desa E rihd." ("I can't. I can't live every day thinking that it will be today that they come back for us. I'm a Hunter. It's time I hunt.") This voice seemed to be coming from where she stood, meaning it was Arianna who spoke. When she did there was an eruption of protests and refusals from all around her. The people did not want her to leave.

"Ahuikr. Arianna ryc syta ran taleceuh!" ("Enough. Arianna has made her decision!") When Ike spoke all the complaints stopped. He looked at Elena/Arianna and removed the fur vest, handing it to her. Elena saw a hand that wasn't hers take it. "Rana dyga drec. Pa cina du lusa pylg du ic frah oui'na nayto. Ugyo?" ("Here take this. Be sure to come back to us when you're ready. Okay?")

Elena felt Arianna pull the vest on and it fell far past her waist and didn't stop until more than half way down her thighs. The soft sadness that she had been feeling from the memory grew heavier as the mass of the brown fur that was too large for her weighed on her shoulders. Elena felt Arianna start to cry. "E muja oui kioc. E'mm lusa Rusa ykyeh. E bnuseca." ("I love you guys. I'll come Home again. I promise.")

As all of the people started stepping forward towards her everything turned to dust and was swept away by a nonexistent wind. Elena was back in the creepy forest. "So the trees are actually vessels for memory."

She inspected the tree closely, careful not to touch it and get pulled into the memory again. She needed something that at least indicates what type of memory it contains unless she wants to sit through every memory that this girl has. She'd be there forever so that was definitely not going to happen.

She wanted to inspect the other trees too but the forest was somehow looking scarier.

A deep chill ran up her spine.

Elena looked all around her again. "Alright! I know you're here Arianna. So come on out!"

There was no reply. Feeling a bit paranoid, Elena started shouting at a quicker pace. "Oh I get it! You're afraid to face me. Is that why you have me trapped in this creepy place? I'll give it to you! This is the best anyone as ever resisted against me!"

The blond woman felt a current of air pull in and out at an angle from the ground where she stood to up and behind her. And then a deep, terrifyingly menacing growl.

She was nearly frozen in her place but Elena forced herself to slowly turn around and look up. Standing before her was a chestnut brown wolf the size of a horse, its eyes seemed to glow green. While she wanted to think about how monster eyes _should_ glow red or at least gold her focus couldn't move past the mouth full of fangs each the size of her hand that was snarling at her.

Elena's mind registered the appearance of what was behind her in about one second, mind time since the brain works hundreds of times faster than the body on the outside. One second to register and comprehend what was behind her. It only took her mind about half that amount of time to realize that the wolf monster held her in its mouth by her chest and stomach, high in the air while her bloodied hips and legs were still on the grass, yet to fall to the ground with nothing holding them upright.

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!"

…

"AAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Elena screamed in the purest of horror as the phantom pain of being ripped in half was leaving her body. A pair of green eyes that glowed with bloodlust beaming down on her. She scurried backwards, still screaming in her terror, only vaguely hearing Gonzo call her name.

The green eyed monster crouched on her hands and feet like the wolf she was and lunged at the screaming Elena. Even in terror, the CP8 woman was still a killer. As quickly as she could, Elena pulled her flintlock from the small of her back and shot Arianna in the head. The monster dropped to the ground on her back thanks to the force of the shot and remained there unmoving.

Elena started hyperventilating as a pair of large warm arms wrapped around her and their owner started whispering in her ear. "It's okay. Shh. Elena. It's okay."

()

_*Hurts… My head. My lungs. Can't breathe…*_

Arianna woke up in a suffocating darkness, the smell of dirt stuck in her nose. *_Can't… I can't breath.*_

She was buried.

_*Almost died.*_

Her mind was slow as her hands started a furious dig. Clawing at the softer soil that was above her. The soil that had been moved when she was placed in the ground.

_*I almost died.*_

Now her feet started helping her climb up as she was moving quickly. It didn't take a minute for her to feel air against her hand and when she did grabbed hold of stable ground and shot herself out of the grave.

_*I was almost killed.*_

Arianna set her bloodthirsty green eyes on the pair that stared at her in shock and fear.

_*I was almost killed by prey.*_

With that final thought her Warrior's Cloak and Hunter's Sense went wild. Her consciousness was no longer driving her body. Her bloodlust was.

She lunged at them, giving herself a boost with her hands but was caught by the throat by the man. He was shouting something but she couldn't understand his words. Language was non-existent to her at the moment.

He held her high off the ground and started squeezing her neck. For a moment it was painful, but her Cloak quickly covered it so that he couldn't squeeze any tighter.

Arianna could feel his muscles tense as he readied to lift her higher and slam her down. Before he could act, she grabbed the hand on her and, with a Cloak covered leg, threw her knee up into his arm with every drop of force her body had. Her knee drove straight up into the hard muscle of his forearm and kept going until his bone snapped and splintered, then still continued until the broken end stabbed its way out of his flesh. The air between their faces became spotted with a wave and drops of blood.

The large man howled in pain and was now incapable of using his hand. The moment she landed, Arianna sprang up again. She grabbed the useless part of his arm pushed it back towards his body, aimed just right. The splintered bone sticking out of the arm sailed into his throat until the tip was sticking out the other side. This time there was not blood, only a clear liquid shot from the back of his neck and spine. She landed in a crouch next to the falling corpse.

Arianna heard a high pitched scream from the other animal. The one that shot her. As she looked at the blond, the Warrior felt her Cloak expand forcing its flow outside her body and cover her in the shape of a wolf. Wearing her Beast Soul, she charged at the woman who finally stood and started to run away. After one bound on all fours Arianna's energy shifted back into her body and she grabbed her prey's head in her hands and quickly spun around her. The sound of the skin on the woman's neck tearing from being stretched further than capable was as clear in Arianna's ears as the bones breaking, and Elena's face was now looking directly opposite of where it should be.

With the second body dropped she returned to her crouch and looked into the trees, at the red feet of a fox that had been watching. The fox ran and the wolf ran after her.

()

The man Marcel had extended the courtesy of an introduction and nothing more. With it done he used the same teleporting ability that the agent at the ship did to get in close as he drew his sword and the moment he was visable the blade was nearly on Law. Moving as quickly as he could, Law blocked it with his sheathed nodachi, successfully preventing himself from being cut but the strength in the attack was enough to push him back though he stayed on his feet. Bepo shouted his name but was immediately attacked by Stefan who used the same technique to get close then with his hand became covered in something gray until it formed a short spear to stab through the bear.

Thankfully, despite his large size Bepo was very agile and escaped the attack.

Law trusted his partner to handle the older man himself and maintained his focus on his opponent, whom was facing him with a two-handed grip on his sword. The man, Marcel, stepped forward and immediately closed the gap between himself and Law. The pirate unsheathed his nodachi and blocked a vertical cut, pushing the blade off to the side and swung horizontally to counter but his was blocked as well. Not surprising for a government agent, he was actually trained to use a sword and didn't just swing it around as if it was a sharp club.

Before Marcel got the chance to retaliate Law took an offensive and stabbed forward into his shoulder. Just as the tip of the blade was about to make contact with his jacket the assassin twisted his grip on the sword handle to hold it with a backhand and pushed up to move Law's blade above his body. Law took an extra step to regain his footing but when he did Marcel turned himself around kicked the pirate in a swiping motion, making him grit his teeth in a pain that he shouldn't have felt from a kick. He jumped back to put space between himself and the CP8 agent before glancing down at his side. There were four bloody gashes from the attack.

Looking back at Marcel, Law took in his appearance from head to toe. He seemed larger and his face a bit more elongated, most notably the loafers he was wearing was shredded and thick hooked nails protruded from his toes. "So you're both devil fruit users. You're a Zoan and the old man over there is a Paramecia?"

The beast-man's expression twitched with amusement. "Very good. Now all you have to do if figure out how to survive us."

As he said that Bepo had been blasted past Law and hit the ground hard, his chest bleeding though not profusely so. The captain looked at his friend with worry but he was quick to get back on his feet. "I'm okay. He just caught me by surprise."

When they both looked back at the people standing in there way they saw long grayish-brown rope like projections coming down on them from Stefan. Law and Bepo jumped separate ways and a second projection snatched the bear and tossed him into the air before slamming him down into the ground while Marcel cut off Law and slammed his sword down onto him. Law held his across his chest to block and was also slammed into the ground by the larger man's raw strength.

Pinned down into the ground, Law watched as the man's face and body shifted into a more hybrid form than before. His entire body continued to get thicker while growing black fur with some brown around his now snout and continued down his neck. His ears shifted and moved up to more atop his head and became triangular as they flopped down on themselves slightly. Most worrying of all was that his hands grew massive and gained thick black claws and his teeth elongated and vaguely made him think of Arianna's only they continued growing past that point and looked exceptionally dangerous. Law wasn't well versed in the different breeds, but Marcel's Zoan was definitely a dog class, and one with a lot of power.

He was having trouble holding the man's pressing sword off of him and his arm started to tremble from exhaustion. The dog-man saw this and lifted his sword, looking like he was going to hammer it back down on him. Law took the opportunity and used his power. "ROOM."

His blue sphere opened and extended to encompass part of the builds on the town's edge and some of the trees. Most importantly it contain both Bepo and Stefan. "Shambles!"

Just before the sword struck Law's he swapped himself with Bepo's opponent, who was currently attacking him relentlessly with a small hammer in one hand and an axe in the other, both made out of his devil fruit power.

Unfortunately Marcel stopped his strike before killing his comrade and he snarled savagely at Law who nearly made him do so. Law ignored it and started speaking to Bepo without taking his eyes off the pair. "Have you figured out the old man's power yet?"

He nodded. "He's manipulating dust. It seems he can do just about anything with it."

"Where is he getting dust?"

The bear looked a bit confused. "I'm not sure." He admitted.

"Alright. The other guy is a dog Zoan."

"Looks like a Rottweiler to me. They're built to like bears." Bepo informed him, likely aware that Law wouldn't know.

"Got it. Ready?" The pirate captain looked back at his partner now.

Bepo put on a confident and excited expressed. "Yep!"

With his companion behind him, Law swung his blade and sliced through everything before him. Stefan created wings for himself, and Law saw what he was looking for. *_The dust is coming from the inside of his coat.* _Sure there's dirt everywhere but not dust so his free use of his abilities meant he had a source. While the old man went up Marcel abandoned his sword and shifted completely into a dog form, which did resemble a bear fairly well in Law's opinion, and ran beneath the slash.

Not interested in making anything that easy for them, Law began slashing any way his arm would allow him to and as quickly as possible. However for an old man and an animal with a lot of bulk, they were able to move quickly enough to avoid every one frustrating him a bit. All the while they were dodging, using their strange high speed technique, they were moving closer and Stefan retaliated first. The old man created bullets about the thickness of Law's hand and fired them off. "Bepo!"

The bear understood and jumped above Law with a battle cry, punching and kicking the projectiles to break them apart before they ever got close to their target. However while Bepo was busy with the bullets the man kicked off the air and shot himself at Law, creating a large fist of dust and tried to crush him with its punch. He cut up and through the dust, splitting it but it simply reformed since it wasn't a single mass to begin with and continued on, nearly crushing the pirate.

In his bid to avoid the dust attack Law had stopped his own attacks on the dog and so Marcel took advantage of his distraction and shifted back to his hybrid form. "_Tekkai Kenpo: Jugan"_

The dog-man punched Law in his abdomen, just at the bottom of his ribs and it felt like his ship rammed him in that one focal point. His Room dissipated around him as Law was thrown back by the attack and before he even hit the ground Marcel released another attack. "_Rankyaku: Kemono no Tsume._"

He kicked and streaks of blue-white light flew from his nails, striking Law in the same point of the previous attack along with the rest of his stomach. When he finally hit the ground he was heaving. At first he merely coughed up blood but it turned into vomiting as all the contents that were still in his stomach started forcing its escape up.

"Captain!" Bepo cried as he began running towards his friend but was stopped by Stefan's dust whips wrapping themselves around his ankles and began flinging in him up and down, giving him whiplash.

Law pushed himself up to his knees, breathing heavily feeling an intense pain in his lower chest that promised a broken rib or three. While he worked to calm his breathing and refocus his blurring sight his Haki alerted him of an oncoming attack for his throat. Forcing his body to act despite his muscles screaming for a break, Law slashed his sword forward to intercept the now fully animal dog-man. Marcel clamped down tightly on the nodachi to protect himself from getting sliced through but Law wasn't done. With his opponent in close on him he wasn't going to waste the chance. "ROOM!"

This sphere was only large enough to enclose him and his target. "Mes!"

Using his tightened hand, the Surgeon of Death removed Marcel front left leg halfway up the humorous. The animal made a crying roar as it released his sword and reverted to his hybrid form so he can stand on two legs. "You little SHIT!" Marcel roared in a primitive rage.

Using his other clawed hand he scratched the air and yelled out. "_Gosshigan: Kemono no Tsume!"_

Lines of dangerous light flew away from his claws the same way it had from his earlier kick. Law extended his Room so that it included past his enemy and sliced through the beast's attack as well as his body. Law smirked excitedly. He walked lazily to his victim. "All it really takes is one good cut inside my room to kill you but…"

His excited smirk took on a more psychotic characteristic to it and his eyes practically glowed yellow like a demon's. "I already decided before facing you that I would make you pay for all of the pain your team inflicted on my crew."

A flash of fear went through Marcel's eyes but he masked it as quickly as it came as he tried to behave like he was still the one controlling the situation. "Just fucking try it yo-"

Law cut him off my slicing his face in half at the mouth separating his maxilla from most of his mandible, making sure to not touch him physically with his sword so that it wouldn't kill him yet.

"Marcel!" The old man screamed in horrified rage but when he sent his dust after the pirate it didn't reach. Bepo took advantage of his distraction and jumped, flying kicking him in the face.

Confident that his friend will keep the bag of bones busy while he got to work, Law resumed his fun. After using his shambles to put his face back together he cut the legs first, one with is power and the other directly with his sword. Whether the slice was physical or transferred via his power created a difference in pain from the strikes. Most importantly by cutting his legs through the knees even if he figured out how to efficiently move his body while it was in pieces it didn't matter. He wouldn't be able to do anything.

His mind returned to Oliver, his body was riddled with punctures and he was covered in blood. Turning his grip on his sword, Law held the blade upside down and started slowly piercing holes in the man. One after another and watched his face all the while with his own smiling in excitement and satisfaction. Marcel was visibly clenching his teeth and trembling as he tried admirably to hold in his screams of pain. After six puncture like stabs, that were a finger deep each since that strange _shigan _technique was clearly what had been used on his medic, Law put a seventh into a cluster of the femoral nerve in the joining of the leg and hip. This was the one that made him scream.

The sound of his agony was probably more pleasing to Law than it should be but he couldn't bring himself to care. Instead since he finally got the man to scream he moved on to something else. Readjusting his hand to properly hold his sword and started slowly dragging it across Marcel's chest, recreating Koma's injury. With that done he changed his grip back to the upside down hold and moving in a flash, stabbed his femur and sliced his way out for Kai.

As much as he wanted to continue his fun, Marcel was going into shock and there would be no point anymore. So he settled for slicing his neck and letting him bleed out.

Finished with his toy, Law turned to assist Bepo finish off the old man. He seemed to be giving the bear trouble. Every time he would break apart the dust weapons Stefan would just collect the dust from the ground. Law walked calmly and stood next to his partner, the old man's rage topped off at the behavior of his leader's torture and death. He collected all of the dust that he had with him and created two large clawed hands, each the size of his partner's hybrid form. "You… Insignificant children!"

The man only made it two steps before a black blur tore past him, taking his right arm with it.

As Stefan screamed in agony Bepo and Law looked at the interloper. It was a black wolf but there was something incredibly off about it. Its body was _flowing _like it was made of water or smoke and it held the now severed arm in its snarling mouth, the oozing blood pooling on and around its foot going unnoticed.

"_hoko hoko no hyo_!" The pirates heard the old man scream out his attack as all of the dust collected over the black wolf and began raining heavy bullets down on it.

The wolf ignored the dust and dropped the arm, racing to the agent until one bound in front of him it landed on its back feet and the energy seemed to absorb into itself revealing Arianna. Her hand still held onto the odd black energy that coated her creating a clawed hand and she slashed it across her target, ripping his throat open and spraying her dirt covered body with blood.

She stood in place, hunched over and breathing heavily. Law didn't need to see her face to know that this was what she had warned him about earlier that day.

"Ari-chan?" Bepo called out her name, uncertain about what was happening.

She shifted her weight to face them just slightly more and Law's Haki was screaming multiple warning of an attack every one of the four seconds that hung in the air. It was as if she was repeatedly decided to attack only to change her mind. On the fourth and final second he felt her make a decision and start charging at them. The way she ran was as animalistic as her mind seemed to be, alternating between her feet and all fours. The moment she moved Law opened his room and used his entire hand for his technique. "Tact!"

Stone spikes shot from the ground to impede her path but each one actually seemed to help her. She zig zagged and jumped between them and Law was reminded of his training with her in the forest. How could he not realize that they would only better her mobility?

"BEPO MOVE!" Law shouted when she was nearly upon them.

She jumped from slightly above them and shot herself down at Bepo, taking back on her wolf energy as she did. He avoided the attack but she jumped after him with a majority of her human appearance back but her claws still raised. Bepo cried when he saw she was still after him. "ARI-CHAN, PLEASE STOP!"

"Shambles!" Law swapped placed with Bepo himself and sliced his blade against her hand. It felt like he struck steel and her hand was clearly unharmed.

_*So the energy is Busoshoku Haki. "A special use for her Haki" or something like that right? At least I know what's going on. So how am I supposed stop you? All you told me was to be ready for you to try hard to kill me.* _Law was trying his best to make sense of what to do.

Not really seeing any other option he tried to put some distance between them. When he did she raced after him and shifted back to her wolf shape as he sliced horizontally to cut her in half and at least slow her down. But his power couldn't cut her. She didn't even seem to notice that he had attacked. "Shit!"

Arianna pounced down on him then her energy reabsorbed and she spun around, kicking him hard and unfortunately her heel dug into his broken ribs. The shockwaves of pain in Law's body was crippling. Had he been alone, she'd probably have killed him when she lunged at him with her fangs bared to tear into his throat. But he wasn't alone and Bepo jumped down on her with a heavy kick. She seemed to notice his attack coming though and threw herself sideways and out of danger.

She remained with her human appearance despite being crouched, even without it she looked like a rabid wolf in the way she snarled and had a deranged look in her eyes. *_I take it back. Her fangs are worse than that dogs.* _As he looked at her, he saw an anomaly. Her collar bone was split open but there was no blood. *_Her wolf shape flows and moves. If I can catch her at the right moment I can get her.*_

Law pushed himself back up. He started releasing his power from his palm and opened his sphere. "ROOM."

To his displeasure it was nowhere near the size he intended and realized that the pain that was wracking his body was taking its toll and exhausting him. He probably would be able to maintain it for long at all. This really was his only chance to stop her. And he'll just have to hope she survives it so that he can kill her later. "Bepo. Get her close and keep her still as best you can."

"Got it." He asked no questions. Only trusted in his captain's plan.

Arianna hadn't charged yet so Law enticed her. He sliced the air to show that he intended to hurt her. If she was an animal in consciences at the moment then a threat will get her to act.

It worked. Very well in fact. She charged forward and in her wolf shape she lunged with her mouth open to bite and probably rip Bepo's arm off the way she had Stefan's. He jumped out of the way and roundhouse kicked her to push her off to the side and closer to Law, though it looked like it hurt him more than her. Now that the man was closer she targeted him and flung herself at him, a black fist extending to his face.

Law waited until her arm was extended then raised a finger. "Tact!"

A stone column rose and encased her hand and wrist. She snarled and coated her other fist in Haki to destroy the stone but Bepo latched on to it and tried to pull her body taut. Law stepped in front of her as quickly as he could, knowing she won't be pinned for long, and hoped this technique will work properly this time. It wouldn't when he practiced on the boars but if it didn't he'd probably have to kill Arianna anyways, which was the outcome if it doesn't work.

"Mes!" Unlike when he usually used this technique, this time Law only sharpened his energy at the top of his fingertips and the rest of his hand was coated his raw energy. He thrusted his hand into the left side of her chest and waited a long half second before he saw a small cube fall from her back.

The shock of having her heart ejected from her still living body seemed to break whatever trance she was in that left her mindless because she screamed and looked at him with a sense of recognition in her eyes. "Law?"

He cut her hand free from the pillar and Bepo released her other one. Her body began to drop and both pirates grabbed hold of her to stop her from falling. She seemed to barely be conscious but she was mumbling something in her weird language. Law didn't need to know the words to understand the sentiment from her voice. She was apologizing as she completely lost consciousness.

"Captain…" Bepo sounded worried and confused at the same time.

"Bepo, carry her back to the ship for me." He said calmly as he put her full weight on the bear, who took it without complaint, and picked up her heart.

Somehow it seemed small in his hand but really warm as it beat gently and slowly. He turned back to his companion. "Where done here. We need to get back to the crew and make sure everyone is still alive."

The bear nodded solemnly. "Aye Captain."

()

In the early evening, in the shadow of an anonymous building near the docks stood a fox watching her Beloved sit on the deck of a yellow submarine. The fox watched as her Beloved stretch her arms and stare at the increasingly darkening sky. Watched as her Beloved bid a farewell to a man and a Mink. As her Beloved stood to retreat into the ship, only to stop and examine her surroundings. The fox approached a woman walking a dog and just as their paths crossed, and pulled in her presences until it was virtually invisible.

A fox watched from the shadow of a different building as her Beloved wolf entered a yellow submarine for the night.

"Ma'am. Did Captain have any specific orders for us?" Marcel asked. In her mind he was Mutt.

"She is to be killed. Just be sure to do it off the ship and far outside of the city. The smell of the dead is much easier to track than that of the living. I'm sure you don't want the Mink with his captain in tow tracking your men down before they've had a chance to escape."

"You don't think we can handle some rookie pirates?"

"As long as she gets taken care of they are yours to handle however you wish. Captain has no interest in Heart Pirates. I just thought you wouldn't want to take the chance. Wasn't it a rookie crew more than half this size that ended CP9?"

Mutt gave her a disgusted look.

"I'm just looking out for your safety." The fox dismissed herself from the conversation with Mutt. He will handle everything from here. After all it was his and his allies chance to prove themselves useful to her adored captain.

…

In the dark night a golden fox walked the streets until she heard the rowdy bar full of pirates. The fox entered the swollen bar and found the man her Beloved spoke to on the deck of a yellow submarine. She approached the man covered in black, yellow and spots. *_Leopard.* _She labeled him mentally. "What an entertaining crew you have." She said, announcing arrival to him.

Leopard turned to take her in. She could feel his eyes inspecting every inch of her appearance. She knew how he would find her: unarmed and beautiful. That was the point. "Enjoying your view?" She asked him.

"Yeah."

His single word was enough for her to decide how she was going to spend the next hour or so while she waited for CP8 to get their sluggish asses moving. Giving him her most tantalizing voice, she pursued his attention. "Who'd thought? The infamous Trafalgar Law in Vertwall the same time as me. And on the night of a beautiful red moon, no less."

"Oh? Not a local?" He sounded as if he was doing the same. This little dance of feeling each other out to ensure that the other was on the same page was a waste.

She sat on his lap to show him what she thought of such a silly dance. "Does it matter?" *_Don't worry, all I want is a bit of fun.*_

"Since you know who I am, why not tell me who you are?" She didn't miss the way his energy and attention shifted to the Mink on the other side of the room. He was being cautious. It wouldn't surprise her if pirates, bounty hunters and maybe even an occasional Marine tried a seduction tactic on this man. He was attractive by certainly anyone's standard. But she purposely left her notable weapons elsewhere. While she can't hide her honed muscles when naked she can at least have no items that she has to work to conceal.

She gave him a little nibble and lick. "Does it matter?"

The fox was almost disappointed in how quick he was to take her with him out of the bar. *_Poor Leopard must be frustrated, or stressed. Probably both.*_ She lied and told him she was staying in a hotel that she knew was further than where he was staying so that they'd go to his, giving her an excuse to leave right away when they finish.

…

A fox truly did enjoy her time with Leopard. So much so in fact, she'd see if she can give his crew a little help from behind the scenes in the attack on them. Which most certainly already started. It was late enough. A golden fox searched for the energy of the CP8 members. She found that Tick and Gorilla were together with Butterfly, Tortoise, and her Beloved wolf. *_Weird. They don't feel the tiniest bit weakened.* _Filled with curiosity, a fox intercepted the group who had only just reached the edge of the city. They were walking at a leisurely pace and the male carried her unconscious Beloved gingerly, holding her under her legs and shoulders, to not arouse suspicion.

Before the fox even saw them she knew why things went so smooth for them. The smell of Night Kiss was saturated around her Beloved's neck. Specifically originating from the braided plant that the little wolf wore as a necklace. *_I did say I was going to pay back Leopard. Plus we can't have her dying without a chance to protect herself. How will we know if she is growing if she's drugged before anything even starts?*_

None of these animals have ever met the fox, only the Mutt did. They never knew her face or voice, they just knew that their leader was getting orders from their desired captain through a woman. So the fools didn't give the fox any mind when she approached them with her best "drunk woman" act and bumped into Gorilla's forearm and fell to the ground giggling. "Careful!" The male said.

"Lady you need to go home." The female in grey said curtly.

"Those shoes are a nice red though." The princess looking Butterfly said as they walked past her though.

They were too foolish to notice that the fox had a chain end pulled from her pocket and a charm sized axe hidden between her fingers that cut through the grass. CP8 walked on, unaware that the Night Kiss drenched grass that was keeping her Beloved practically sedated had slid off and lay abandoned on the sidewalk.

…

A fox ate a cherry flavored double-stick popsicle as she watched from the lower canopy of the trees as Gorilla dug a hole. She watched as her Beloved's energy slowly became more vibrant with the oil wearing off. Watched as Tick foolishly took hold of her beloved's face; likely an attempt to extract information from the brunette before burying her alive.

A fox watched with a wide grin as Tick jumped away, screaming in utter terror at what she encountered inside her Beloved's mind. She narrowed her eyes and bit off a chunk of the frozen treat as the little wolf woke and immediately lunged at the strangers, only to be shot in the head. She smirked at how even now the voice of her Beloved's soul could still be heard. At how foolish Gorilla was for tossing her into the hole and covering her without finishing her off first in his haste to comfort his traumatized partner.

A fox watched with a quarter of her popsicle left as her Beloved shot out of her grave, all traces of her mind seemingly gone. She tried to contain her laughter as Gorilla attempted to break the deranged wolf's neck, only to have _his_ impale by his own arm bone. She could no longer contain her laughter after Tick screamed in utter terror just before _her_ neck was twisted into shreds.

A fox in the trees was being watched by a wolf on the ground.

A streak of red was blurring its way through the trees as a golden fox ran with her Beloved brown wolf in pursuit. She led the wolf back towards town, through the streets until a prey that was certainly more tantalizing than she was in range for her Beloved. A wounded Vulture, a downed Mutt, a wobbly Mink and an enraged Leopard.

A pair of gray eyes watched as their Beloved tore an arm from Vulture before any of the animals even knew she was there.

A golden fox watched from a safe distance as her Beloved's heart was ejected from her body by Leopard and continued beating. She watched as the Mink carried the little wolf and began returning to the rest of the animals that called a yellow submarine Home.

A fox cursed at her own negligence. While they were never expected to succeed, her adored captain needs at least one Cipher Pol agent still alive. He has a special offer for the world that they need to release.

…

A golden fox watched from the highest point in the city, atop a church roof. She watched the Bloodmoon fade into a weaker glow as the light of the sun began its attack on the sky. "E tuh'd ghuf ypuid oui Anna, pid drec fyc so vyjuneda Pmuutsuuh eh oaync." ("I don't know about you Anna, but this was my favorite Bloodmoon in years.")

A fox's attention was pulled to the stirrings beside her, as the one CP8 survivor she worked hard to find awakened.

"Good morning, Butterfly."

* * *

**Attack names. Got the translations off of Google so that will explain why they suck :/**

**Tekkai Kenpo: Jugan – Iron Mass First Law: Beast SternR**

**ankyaku: Kemono no Tsume – Storm leg: Beast Claw**

**Gosshigan: Kemono no Tsume- Five finger gun: Beast Claw**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•ω •****｡`):**

**sarge1130: Hell-o-o! First off thanks for always leaving a review. It really does make my day sometimes! :)**

**Alright, down to business! You are pretty much hitting a nail on the head with all of it. Arianna really does miss having her family and Marcus feels similar so it's easy for them to enjoy each other's company. Especially with how serious Law got over the time skip I feel like it's really easy to forget that at the start of the series he was a 23 year old guy and I feel like he definitely had fun with his crew so it was fun to write him as such. Also, are you in my head? With everything that happens you theorize that a member of her tribe is on the island? How? Well, she's connected to Arianna's life pre-story but that's all I'm saying about it because she'll come back.**


	22. Chapter 22

**I think this was the least amount of time it's taken me to write a chapter in the past ten or so. Also from what I could tell about half of the people who read chapter 21 skipped 20, so if you read it and were super confused go back and do that. Or continue on and don't care, I can't make you do anything. Enjoy the story friends!**

**Chapter 22**

* * *

The walk back to his ship felt incredibly long and painful to Law. The gashes in his abdomen were allowing his blood to flow out of his body at a dangerous rate. He had to stop to shred off strips of his sweater to tie around the wounds and while he was doing it realized that there were similar injuries on his chest where he thought his ribs were broken. He must've been too caught up in the adrenaline of the fight to differentiate the pain of the two injuries since they are in the same location.

He heard some muffled sound and there was an annoying white and blurry filter to his vision. *_Perfect. I'm going into shock.* _He thought begrudgingly. The pirate was finding it almost too difficult to walk now too. When he suddenly felt some stability from his arm, he understood that Bepo was holding him steady now.

Law heard the mostly muted noise that must have been his friend's numerous concerns but he couldn't comprehend them right now. He had to focus on walking or else he was certain to fall, and very likely not get back up. He was suddenly worried about the rest of his crew. How was he to treat them if he can't even see?

Now all he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. It was as comforting as it was dispiriting. Sure he was breathing, but that it was all he can hear was a dangerous sign. He felt himself go weightless and for a moment Law was concerned that his condition just drastically worsened but his dull senses processed the arm that held him from his upper legs, taking great care to avoid bending his abdomen which was now resting against a firm shoulder. Bepo must've decided to pick him up after a few too many failures to respond to words. As much as Law wanted to complain and refuse being carried like some weakling he couldn't muster the energy to bother. He could only take the opportunity to rest. His eyes were heavy and he worked hard to keep them from staying closed longer than a blink. Somehow on one of his blinks he closed his eyes in the city and opened them in the ship's infirmary.

*_Shit.* _He thought, realizing that he passed out. The sounds and scenes he took in were much clearer than before. The doctor looked up and saw a line attaching his forearm to a red bag with a large B printed on the side. He really must've lost a lot of blood for Shachi to start a transfusion. Law winced when he was upright and reflexively reached for the origin of his pain. There were rows of stitches across his side and lower ribs. "Captain!"

He looked up and saw Bepo standing beside him, a look of sheer relief in his eyes. "How are you feeling?"

_*Like I was just mauled by a_ _small grizzly bear.* _He answered internally. "Fine. How long was I out?" He answered as he temporarily detached his IV line so he could slip on a short sleeved black shirt that was sitting next to him. He was unable to contain his grimace at lifting his arm.

"I saw that." The bear proclaimed. "And you were asleep for just barely an hour."

"Captain! You're awake." It was Shachi now. He looked like he was hard at work with Marcus and it reminded Law that he had plenty of work to do himself.

"What still needs to be done?" He asked, shifting to sit on the edge of the hospital bed.

"Everyone is resting. I gave Austin, Kai and Clyde morphine to help them. We haven't done anything more intensive than suturing. They all need surgery though. Oliver might too but he doesn't seem to be in any serious danger." He informed.

Law took a deep breath to collect himself. He was tempted to remove the IV line in his forearm but knew that if he did he'd become too lightheaded to function. He's probably still too lightheaded to function as a doctor at all but he's was so accustomed to surgeries that it was as normal an activity as brushing his teeth. He can handle it even in his condition, but… *_Probably better to keep the blood bag attached.* _He decided and pushed himself off the bed.

"Captain. You're not actually going to start surgeries _now _are you?" Shachi asked. He sounded worried but not surprised.

"You've already patched me up so I'm not in any danger of dying. _They _are." Law reminded his medic coolly, successfully maintaining a stone face despite his lightheadedness and pain.

Shachi sighed, knowing better than to try and argue with his captain. "Alright. I'll get everything prepared."

When he was gone Law looked back at Bepo. A long dark red line of clotting blood mingled with his fur was in perfect view. "Were you waiting on me for that?"

The bear's ears twitched shyly and he stopped meeting his friend's eyes. "I was so worried that I totally forgot. B-but don't worry about me! I can wait for whoever is free."

Law sighed and rubbed the top of his friend's head. "I'll finish up as quickly as I can."

Bepo made a happy rumbling noise and smiled.

With his first mate pleased, the man scanned the room for his sweater. While he obviously wasn't about to wear it he needed to retrieve Arianna's heart from its pocket. Only... Something suddenly occurred to him. The enclosed cube that held her heart was made from his devil fruit power. Would it even hold if he was not conscious for any amount of time? "Bepo. Where's my sweater? The girl's heart was there."

He came in close to answer him quietly. "I snuck it to your room while I was picking up a clean shirt for you. I wasn't sure if you'd want any of the guys to know you stole it from her. She seems to be doing okay though. Shachi said that even though he hasn't had a chance to really look her over, she seems to be in much better shape than half the crew."

Law only had time to nod a thanks before Shachi motioned that he was ready with Kai. The doctor walked as normally as he could to the table while grabbing and putting on a pair of gloves with Bepo trailing behind to push the IV stand. It really wasn't safe to have a line attached to the surgeon during a procedure, but he was confident that it won't become an issue because of its location. That was probably why Shachi had placed his catheter in his forearm instead of elbow or hand. It provides the least amount of impeded motion.

"Are you _sure _you're good to do this?" The medic took his last chance to try and talk the doctor out of working.

Law knew his question wasn't a matter of doubt, just concern for his health, which is why he didn't even bother with a cold stare. In truth, Law knew that he shouldn't do it no matter how confident he was that it will turn out okay. But he couldn't let Shachi handle things while he recuperates even if his pride would allow it. These procedures were out of the red-heads abilities. It was either do them now or hope they can be kept alive long enough for the surgeon to regain his strength and attempt them later. "Let's get started."

...

The surgery to plate Kai's femur, repair the cut blood vessels, muscles, ligaments, tendons and tissue lasted nearly two and a half hours. While it was still fast for a typical surgeon it was quite slow for him and Law almost felt embarrassed by it. Shachi alternated between monitoring and maintaining Kai and working Law's fluids as well, swapping out the emptied bag of blood for a saline solution used in less severe cases of blood loss.

Thanks to the IV line, Law was most definitely feeling better in the sense that he was no longer lightheaded or dizzy in any way, but standing in one position for so long was doing nothing to help his fatigued body. He almost couldn't remember the last time he felt this physically depleted, and he was certain he has never looked forward to sleep as much as he was right now. But sleep was still a little ways away. He still had to repair Austin's impaled abdomen and Clyde's pierced stomach. At least those won't be so complex of repairs. The most difficult part will be reattaching the blood vessels to one another and ensuring he repaired all the damaged organs and removed all the fluid from the men's body cavity. In fact he was tempted to leave it to Shachi, but couldn't help but be against it. The medic may have repaired organs before, but they were always fresh injuries. Austin's and Clyde's organs have had time to necrotize and would require much more removal and therefore a much more practiced hand to close.

He worked on Austin first. Because of the location of the injury it was a bit tricky but once they positioned him just right it was fairly simple. The blade that went through him didn't touch any of the vertebrae and it only damaged a section of the intestine and a kidney was damaged beyond repair. Oh well, he still had another one and this will make for one less man drinking himself stupid when they have fun.

Since Clyde's was a bit easier Law let his mind wander a little bit about his conversation with Bepo. It was a bit surprising that he's power held while he slept but now he had to confront what to do with her and the fact that he held her very life in his hand. Well, in his room. The bear wasn't wrong. Law wasn't keen on the men learning that Arianna's heart wasn't in her body; it would lead to questions and the push to make a decision without having all the information. Also, thanks to the interrogation of Clyde it was somewhat clear that not the whole crew felt a sense of attachment to the girl the way they do each other. There wasn't anything wrong with that but he didn't want fuel for that distrust since she wasn't going anywhere.

Law's hands stopped there, gaining Shachi's attention. He was quick to realize that he stopped working and resumed but now he couldn't shake off the wonder. Just that afternoon he was purposely spiting her by leaving her on the ship, even though she turned out to be okay with it. Now he was actually wanting to protect her standing with the others in the crew. *_I'm probably thinking that way because we were able to separate on a decent note last time we spoke.*_

Not wanting to risk any more thoughts on possibly not just simply tolerating Arianna for the sake of her abilities, Law focused on the task at hand like he really should've been doing the whole time. He finished cutting away the dead cells of the mechanics stomach, stitched it shut and started to flush out the digestive fluids and blood that that had been oozing from his now closed stomach, intestines and pancreas. "Captain, why don't you let me finish up here? You still have Bepo to take care of right?"

Shachi made a good point. True to his word, the Heart Pirate's first mate was sitting patiently for the captain to finish his current procedure so that he may have his turn. Law stepped back from the table and started to remove his third pair of blood covered gloves. "Thanks."

He was very close to removing his catheter too, but decided he might want to resume his own fluid treatment later so he just closed the line and put a cap on the catheter port. He released a large yawn but was cut short when the excessive inhale sent a spike of pain from his ribs. Bepo saw this and looked ready to panic so Law cut him off. "It was just this one injury that you need looked at right?"

The bear's expression didn't change but he behaved. "Yeah. The rest are just some scrapes."

Law nodded and retrieved some hair clippers while Bepo removed the top of his orange suit. It was a really simple treatment. Just cut away the fur, flush out and scrub away debris in the wound and suture him up. If it was anyone other than Bepo, he wouldn't tolerate him waiting for Law to do it. Especially tonight. But he was Bepo, so Law will indulge him.

"Captain. What do you want to do about Ari-chan?" Shachi asked as he approached, having finished with Clyde.

"Leave her for tomorrow. Other than being unconscious she doesn't have any notable injuries."

"Right, and Bepo mentioned that she was running around just fine before she passed out. You think it's just exhaustion then?"

_*That and having her heart removed.* _He added to himself. "Yeah. I'll check her when I can tomorrow. Actually, you and Marcus can go ahead and go to bed. I'll sleep in here for now."

"With as exhausted as you have to be are you sure..." Shachi was clearly uncertain about Law taking the first shift. He left his question of whether or not the Captain would be able to wake up at the sound of the monitors alerting to a problem unfinished though.

"Don't worry. I'll sleep here too!" Bepo chimed in.

The medic clearly saw that he was going to be sleeping in his room, whether he wanted to or not so he gave up. "Good night then."

Law hummed a response while Bepo lazily returned the sentiment.

Shachi left together with Marcus and Law finished his last patient's sutures. When there was no longer a tugging sensation through his skin the first mate yawned largely, all of his teeth showing as his lips pulled high above his gums, and started shifting into a more comfortable position as his eye lids started closing. Law felt a bit bad that he was about to ruin it. "Bepo. Go to my room and grab a change of clothes."

"Yes, Captain!" He said with a sleep heavy enthusiasm to his voice and exited the infirmary without bothering to open his eyes.

_*Will he even make it to my room?* _Law couldn't help but question. Not wanting to allow himself to pass out just yet, the doctor made a round of all of his injured subordinates. Kai, Clyde, Oliver, Newt, Koma, Austin. His crew took a major hit today, or perhaps yesterday as it was currently dawn. Now that he had a moment to breath he was felt the relief that no one had died. The attack on his crew was entirely unexpected and the men were quick to react but it was still too close a call for a few of them. And on top of it he had to find why they went after Arianna specifically. "What does she know that would garner Cipher Pol's interest?" He wondered.

"Maybe it's her language." Bepo's voice surprised him as he walked back in with cotton pants and a new shirt for Law. His current one probably had blood on it, not that it was visible.

He took great care in being slow in removing his current shirt and pulling the new one, a dark blue short sleeved one. He also changed out of his jean pants and into the pair in the bear's arms. "I suppose that's possible. A language other than the one officiated by the World Government could be considered a threat but it's a bit of a stretch"

Law set the machine that his IV line flowed through to give him his fluids continuously for the next seven hours to ensure it won't interrupt his rest. They both found a bed and fell asleep instantly.

()

Talking. That was the first thing that Arianna heard. People around her talking. Her body was feeling a bit stiff too, like she hadn't moved in a long time so she stretched out her arms and legs. A groan rumbled in her throat when she did and some of the talking stopped. The girl rubbed her eyes as she sat up and when she tried to open them it was far too bright for her so she laid back down and pulled the blanket over her face. A few men collectively shouted in shocked voices. "SERIOUSLY?!"

She ignored them but when the sound of footsteps approached her she got the distinct feeling that this one she shouldn't ignore. The blanket was ripped from her face and she was once again blinded. "You are not going back to sleep." Law said roughly.

"Fro yna drana cu syho baubma eh so nuus?" ("Why are there so many people in my room?") She said under her breath while shielding her eyes with her hands; but as they adjusted she saw that she most definitely was not in her room.

"Fryd dra ralg?!" ("What the heck?!") She shouted as she bolted up, earning a room of confused looks. Even Law stared at her with a raised brow. She could only smile and laugh awkwardly at herself.

Law seemed to recover quickly from her outburst. "You can stand right? Take a shower, you're filthy."

Arianna looked down at herself and for the first time saw that she was absolutely covered in dirt and blood. *_Well that's to be expected I guess.* _She thought sullenly about the previous night. Her Beast Soul went a bit out of control.

She stood off the bed and Law held out a change of clothes for and pointed her in the direction of the infirmary shower. She nodded and complied. *_After last night it's best I do anything he says.* _She thought as she walked to the private bathroom as instructed. Arianna placed her clean clothes on a small shell next to a waiting towel and proceeded to remove her filthy pajamas. She even had dirt on the skin beneath them. The sight of a square shaped hole through her chest nearly made her scream, but she remembered the what happened and calmed. Law took her heart so she knew it was safe.

Trying to not let herself be too bothered by the missing piece in her chest, Arianna started the spray of hot water and jumped right in. She tried to scrub her fingers through her hair but was met with resistance. She had forgotten that she had braided it. Once her brown locks fell free she scrubbed her head with vigor. Too much vigor actually as it was starting to give her a headache. She found a washcloth that sat just inside the shower and lathered it up with soap then rubbed that on her head instead. It seemed to be getting better results and so she moved on to her face and was meet with a sudden pain from her forehead. *_Oh, right.* _She reached up and felt for the small wound on her face then dug her finger into it, her face scrunching a bit in pain, and pulled out a bullet. She looked at it only briefly before tossing it into the pile of dirty clothes on the floor and resumed scrubbing every inch of her body that she can reach, working gently on her neck since it was feeling tender. While she wished deeply she was Home with her Family so someone could scrub her back she simply did the best she could by holding the corners of the rag on each side of her and rubbing it back and forth.

The wild girl had to admit, it felt nice to be clean again. She stepped out of the shower and started to bury her face in the towel but when she pulled it away there was a large blood stain on it from her forehead. *_Whoops.* _Being careful of the blood now she dried the rest of her body and squeezed some of the excess water out of her hair. Her head kept bleeding though so she was figured since there was already a blood stain it won't matter if she continue to wipe the oozing fluid with it. With her face temporarily blood free she pulled on the provided shirt, a plain dark red one, and then put on her fresh pair of underwear and shorts. All the while Arianna couldn't help but wonder who exactly brought the clothing.

Just as she was about to leave the bathroom she feels the blood dripping onto her eyelashes, threatening to disrupt her vision so she retrieves the towel again and wipes it away then holds the fabric against the wound again. When she left she sat back on her bed in a clean spot, dropped her dirty clothes next to her and waited patiently for Law or one of the medics to become available. They were all busy checking on the men who had gotten hurt the previous night. The sight of so many of her friends wounded was a little bit heart-breaking. She could tell from the way they were holding themselves that Law and Marcus were hurt too, the captain more so, but they continued on as effortlessly as if they weren't for the sake of their crewmates.

While she was watching them she saw Marcus bump Law in the ribs, it looked like a light tap and the medic didn't even seem to notice he did it but Law stopped for a second and stiffened, closing his eyes and getting an intensely focused expression. Her immediate impulse was to run across the room and ask if he needed to rest, but she stayed in place. This is Law. He would only become angry at her for treating him as weak, so she allowed him to pretend to be okay. *_He really is a good leader. Doing his best to appear as a man of endless strength so his men can recover comfortably. Not only that but it might not really be an act. The way he always seems to be able to come out on top, no matter the situation. Law...*_ Arianna smiled in defeat as she understood where her thoughts were leading.

"What are you smiling about?" The very man of her thoughts asked as he approached.

"You're a really strong guy." She said immediately, not thinking about how it might seem like a random comment.

But Law certainly felt it was and he raised his eyebrow at her.

She chuckled, embarrassed about having to go back and explain herself. Not wanting to let the other men hear her, as if it was some kind of secret, she practically whispered to the man. "I mean, you're definitely in pain but you keep working for everyone else's sake."

A light smirk pulled itself onto his face now. "Naturally." Then his tone took on his doctor voice. "What happened to your head _this_ time?"

She reached into the mass of dirty clothes and pulled out the bullet, tossing it to him. "I got shot."

Law looked at the small round metal piece then to her. She could see a number of questions swimming around in his eyes. But he blinked and they were all gone. "Alright. Let me look."

The girl complied, holding the towel on her lap and did her best to hold her hair out of the way with her free hand. From their current position all Arianna can see his collar bone, neck and nape while she felt the doctor wipe the blood again and pressing her opened skin closed a couple of times. He stepped away and returned with some stuff that looked like fishing line and a hook to her, but she could guess what they were meant for. Her vision was engulfed by Law again and she felt the small prick of the needle in her overly sensitive damaged skin. The feeling of not just a needle going in and out but a string being pulled through was strange. It was different from the sutures Nona or Lumie make, but it wasn't really uncomfortable. When Law pierced her skin again with the needle she clenched her hands but did her best to not move; she tried to preoccupy herself with the details of the doctor's appearance, as much of it as she could see anyways. Her eyes caught every movement of the various muscles and tendons of his neck for each little shift in his head as well as the slight pulse of his blood moving through his artery at its most shallow spot at the base of his skull. She was also a bit surprised that she smelled him. Not the rubbing alcohol or random medical stuff that his hands always smelled like and overpowered the rest of him. _His _smell. It was nice. He had a distinctly unique mixture of ocean and something earthy that reminded her of metal. Her first assumption is to say it was because he has been living in the submarine but the metal smell was different. Inspecting past that, she could also detect hints of a fir tree like smell and something that she can't even find a comparison to but it inspired a perception of strength. *_It's a shame the other stuff is always blocking his scent.*_

When he started stepping back she refocused on his face. He looked like something was on his mind but she wasn't sure she should ask. She almost jumped when his fingers touched the rim of her jaw and gently lifted it. "Don't move your head." He ordered, and let go.

Arianna wasn't sure what he was doing but yelped when she found out. Law pressed against the sides of her throat causing waves of pain to shoot through her whole body, making even her toes clench uncomfortably. The doctor sighed with a frown at her reaction. "Sorry." She said quietly.

"What was that about?" Shachi asked walking over. When he got closer he jumped in surprise. "WOAH! Ari-chan, what happened?"

"Hmm?" She hummed in confusion.

"Your whole neck is bruised like crazy." He answered, lifting her head to get a better look for himself, only to have a tattooed hand clamp itself on his face and pull him back, out of the way.

The red head smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, Captain."

"Some gorilla-man tried to kill me."

"A gorilla-man?" Shachi seemed confused but worried too, completely ignoring the fact that she was obviously not in danger.

She smiled as if amused. "Don't worry, don't worry. He and his partner were definitely bad at it. The idiots buried me without making sure I was really dead."

Shachi was clearly shocked by her words and attitude towards the incident, Law kind of looked entertained, but when the medic looked like he was about to say something again she cut him off. "Besides. It looks like I got off easy compared to some others."

He stopped his words and glanced back at the other patients and got a bit sullen. "Yeah. You did." He left to sit with Oliver and check on his friend.

Somewhat alone again, Arianna decided to ask Law about her missing bit. "Law."

He looked back at her, giving her his attention.

"What did you do with my heart?"

His features hardened slightly. "Locked it somewhere safe. You'll get it back. Eventually."

She paused for a second then shook her head. "Hold on to it."

Law's face widened in surprise.

"Just in case..." She didn't bother to finish her explanation. There was no way he didn't understand what she was alluding to.

"Fine by me. If there's nothing else go check in with Thomas. As you can see he's rather short-handed at the moment."

Arianna nodded with a bright smile and jumped off to get to work but a few steps past Law she realized she forgot something and turned around. "Ur, nekrd." ("Oh, right.")

Without a shred of hesitation or embarrassment she stepped straight into Law's personal space. "Hello." She said smiling and gave him a respect kiss just between the corner of his lips and jaw.

"Bye." She said equally as carefree, and left the room entirely unaware of Law, Shachi, Marcus, Oliver, and Newt staring at her, shocked into silence. Though she did faintly hear the men shriek some incomprehensible exclamation by the time she was halfway down to the next floor.

()

Marcus sat slouched at a table in the galley, enjoying his food despite the exhaustion that still flowed through his body. A full day has passed since the Heart Pirates faced off with CP8 and Law, Shachi and he had been working almost non-stop since. The immediate treatment of the crew is always the most hectic but multiple times yesterday they had to deal with Austin crashing as well as frequently checking the chemical make-up in his blood to adjust his IV fluid content while his body slowly adjust to having one kidney. They are regularly checking Kai's blood count as well as keeping him physically clean changing his position every couple of hours since Law induced him into a coma so his body can use minimal energy while they pump fresh blood into him. Of course on top of that they are also closely monitoring Clyde's condition and thanks to Oliver's injuries he is stuck as a patient rather than being able to assist in the work load.

The young blond had made several attempts to get out of bed and help his friends but their captain immediately sent him back. The last time he tried to get up to work the doctor threatened to strap him to the bed. He hadn't made any attempts since though you could see him watching the other injured pirates with guilt. Connor had spent most of his free time sitting with him, talking, bringing him books or a deck of cards to keep him distracted. It was nice of him. Maybe a little overly so, but they've been close friends for years and while the two men were good friends with the others on the crew they had stronger bond with each other. *_Must be comforting to have someone from your home with you where ever you go.*_

Another huge source of stress from the previous day sat down next to him, behaving like her ordinary cheerful self again instead of the melancholic girl she had been the past week. "Hi Marcus!"

The man intentionally pointed his face away from her and scrunched his features, not quiet wanting to look at her. Arianna had kissed their captain in front of a group of the men and walked out of the room as if nothing happened. When it happened even Law was as openly shocked and confused as the rest of them. Initially no one knew what to think, but Shachi was quick to declare that Arianna must have become smitten with their captain after he saved her from CP8; completely skirting around the fact that none of them knew what happened to her and whether he saved her or if she simply passed out on the way back to the ship like he had. Regardless of what her actual reason for kissing Law was, Shachi had already started to spread it throughout the crew that she was in love with their captain.

The girl leaned on his shoulder and started to whine a bit. "Hey. Why are you ignoring me?"

Marcus could hear the pout in her voice and couldn't stop his sigh but turned to face her. "I'm not ignoring you. I'm just-"

His words stopped dead when he saw her. Arianna was wearing black collared, short poof-sleeved dress with a corset-like midsection and thickly layered knee length skirt. On the dress were a multitude of frills and yellow ribbons that matched a frilly bracelet with a yellow ribbon that warped out of the black band and up her forearm a few passes and a matching choker that wrapped loosely around her purple neck. Her brown hair was left down and hung curlier than usual and it was adorned asymmetrically with a yellow bow that sat on top of a bundle of black fabric.

Marcus could not even comprehend what he was looking at for a moment. While he was processing his thoughts Bepo and Penguin sat at the table and without a bit of hesitation the bear looked at her and smiled. "Ari-chan! You look super cute!"

Penguin held his hands to his blushing cheeks and excited said. "Adorable!"

The girl smiled brightly at the bear. "Thanks guys! Though I think it's a really strange piece of clothing."

Finally, Marcus was able to form words though they were slow to come out. "Why... are you wearing that?"

She looked at him with her big green, child-like eyes. "Kalas said he'd do me a favor if I wore this for the day. He's got a bunch of these weird dresses in his trunk."

The world was starting to make sense again. At least a little anyways. "That guy... He really does have bad interests."

She got a really curious look on her face. Maybe it was the Lolita dress but Arianna seemed different in some other way. "What do you mean?"

Penguin chuckled a bit but answered. "He's got a Lolita fetish. He actually taught himself to make clothes because he wanted to make those kinds of dresses for girls he's interested in. Though now he'll actually ask his one-night stands to put the dresses on since he can't exactly have a relationship."

Arianna stiffened and looked down at herself very concerned. Marcus shared her concern. *_That better not be one of those dresses.*_

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'm pretty sure you're the first person to wear that one." Penguin said reassuringly.

"Hey, Ari-chan. What favor are you asking Kalas to do for you?" Bepo asked.

"Oh. I'm not going to be wearing the uniform a lot; it's just too much for me. So I asked if Kalas could put the Jolly Roger on some of my other clothes." She said happily.

"That a good idea. Now everyone will know that you're one of us." The pirate bear mirrored her happy smile.

"I was wondering..." Penguin started cryptically. "Have you seen Captain today?"

_*Here we go.* _Marcus thought dreadfully.

"I'm sure he'd be _very _interested in seeing you dressed up like this." The mechanic had a devious look on his face as he watched her.

She just tilted her head with a blank look on her face. "Why?"

Her response almost made both men fall out of their seats. From behind her a new voice could be heard. "Don't be so surprised. Half-Pint doesn't really understand men. Remember?"

They all looked at Connor, who was smiling calmly and waved his index and middle fingers together in a greeting. Arianna puffed out her cheeks but playfully elbowed him when he sat next to her. "Haven't we already seen how this ends?"

The group chuckled, remembering when their taunts to each other turned into a chase across the galley.

"How's Oliver?" Marcus asked, knowing full well that's where he's coming from.

"Fine. Bored. Wants to help. Same as usual." Then pointed to the girl but continued to look at the medic. "Kalas?"

The whole group nodded, and he stole her bread, which she immediately swiped back though not before he took a bite.

"How long 'till your next shift Marcus?" The new comer asked.

He looked at the mechanic almost amused. "You mean you haven't memorized our rotation yet? You're there enough."

"Excuse me for wanting to keep my friend company." Connor shot back sarcastically.

Marcus smiled slightly at the way Connor's voice had some of its usual kick to it. "I've got another hour before I go and take Shachi's place."

"An hours, huh? He's probably going to want to just eat then take a nap when you get there." Penguin said, probably trying to plan out a way for him to get some time to goof around with his friend. It was probably tempting to go back into town but the redhead would likely not be up for it.

"Aneh cloo how muf onga me're fofin uo be on pha iphand?" Arianna asked with a full mouth.

Bepo opened his mouth to tell her but Marcus interrupted. "Don't answer her when she talks with food in her mouth."

The girl rolled her eyes and on the other side of her Connor opened wide to show his mouthful of chewed bread. Bepo and Penguin laughed from a across the table. After swallowing her food Arianna asked her question again. "Any clue how much longer we're going to be on the island?"

"Captain wants to leave as soon as possible. It'd be dangerous for us to hang around after killing off CP8. The Navy will definitely send someone here and we can't risk another battle like that with so many injured." The first mate answered.

"So... When does the log post set?" She sounded a little too curious.

"About four hours from now."

Bright green eyes got a glazed look to them and then blinked slowly in thought. Arianna slid the remainder of her meal to Connor since he had been picking at it anyways and got up from the table. "I'll see you guys later."

With that she left in a blur of black fabric and yellow bows. Marcus almost laughed when he saw that while she was wearing thigh-high stockings that matched the rest of her clothes, she was still wearing her regular shoes.

"Fe fure vepht in a phura." Connor said with mouth full of food, earning a displeased look from his roommate. The look was acknowledged with an amused grin. Marcus was well aware that he said "_she sure left in a hurry" _but that doesn't mean he has to encourage the immature behavior.

"Any plans until you have to go on shift?" Penguin asked the medic.

"I figured I'd go to one of the training rooms to get a work-out. Help me relax before I get back to it."

The man in a blue hat grinned. "Want a sparring partner?"

Marcus returned the expression. "Sounds like fun."

The four pirates finished their breakfast and walked upstairs to one of the training rooms. Bepo and Connor sat down near the door, out of the way. Penguin and Marcus continued to the middle of the room and readied themselves with smirks on their faces.

The two men felt a silent _start _resonate in the air and Marcus lashed his weapon at Penguin in a low sweep. Penguin raced forward, lunging over the moving cord, and propelled himself forward when he touched the ground again. He tried to close in on the medic but the man used the other end of his cord to wrap around his foot and pull him off balance. With his hold on the man secure, Marcus looped his ankle around the cord and used the greater strength of his leg to throw him across the metal floor. When Penguin hit the floor he gasped out a breath of air but managed to get a grip on the cord just before it reached his ankle. When Marcus kicked to throw him again Penguin pulled on his end to loosen the pressure on his foot and unwrapped himself from the weapon, rolling backwards over his shoulder as he landed to absorb the impact.

He got back to his feet but didn't stay on them for long. Instead Penguin leapt into the air, slamming his foot straight at Marcus in a strong kick. He jumped backwards out of the way but his leg pulled against him and he fell onto his back. When he looked down he saw that Penguin was on his rope dart which was still wrapped around his own leg. *_Shit!* _He cursed in his head as he pulled at the bladed end of the weapon to get the knife back into his hand and threw it straight at Penguin, interrupting his punch and forcing him to sidestep out of the way. But he didn't let the change stop him and threw himself to the ground on his hands, avoiding the cord as Marcus swung it to follow his dodge. When Penguin's hands hit the ground the medic spun himself and kicked his leg to strike his wrists with the cord. Penguin almost looked like he was break dancing as he pushed at the floor, turning himself like a screw, and Marcus was left completely open as his opponent's heel slammed dead center into his chest.

Marcus turned on his side and started coughing painfully. He looked up viciously when he felt the other man standing over him but calmed when he saw that Penguin's body was relaxed, one hand on his hip and the other extended out to help him up. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Marcus said, accepting the hand and was lifted back to his feet. Connor and Bepo approached the two.

"That was fast." The young mechanic said teasingly.

Marcus glared darkly and the boy stiffened and gulped.

Bepo behaved completely oblivious to the dark aura around the loser and looked at him with concern. "Are you sure you're okay? I've seen Penguin crush ribcages with kicks like that."

"I'm fine. I forgot how good Penguin is, that's all." He snapped back. The reminder almost made him more upset. He knew he was intact which meant Penguin was holding back on him. After remaining as one of the least injured pirates who fought against CP8 he felt superior. Like he was stronger than the rest of the crew with few exceptions. But being taken down so quickly was a cruel reminder. He was still weaker than a great deal many other people.

Penguin was watching him with his arms crossed and had a look of concentration on his face. "Ya' know. You stand pretty stiff when you fight. That's why it was so easy to break your defense."

Marcus looked back at him in surprise.

"Maybe one of us could train with you on close combat so that you can get used to moving more fluidly. Even when you did use your leg it seemed kind of ridged. It made your moves easy to avoid, especially up close."

He was surprised by the suggestion.

"Since when do you think of new ways to adjust fighting styles?"

It was Bepo who asked this, and with a shocked expression on his face. Apparently Marcus wasn't the only one surprised by the lead mechanic.

Penguin become a bit flustered and started lightly tugging his hat by its ear flaps. His embarrassment tic. "Well... After what happened back in Beau Jardin, Shachi and I have been thinking about training with some weapons too. We keep getting into tougher battles and... We decided that we need to be more... adaptable."

"SO MATURE!" The three pirates screamed in shock.

"SHUT UP ASSHOLES!" He shouted back angrily but they didn't care, they were laughing at him.

()

Arianna rushed back to the ship and was very relieved when she made it back with about twenty minutes to spare. She hadn't told anyone she left but it wasn't like the crew was on lockdown either. Everyone staying together on the sub was more of a comfort response to the battle's results than a order by their captain. *_Law...* _She thought with a slight frown. It seemed like every opportunity they could, the other pirates would bring him up to her. At first she was confused by the strange words and the blushing grins the men would give her but Arianna wasn't an idiot. She put two and two together and figured out it was that word of her respect-kiss to Law had spread. She should've known something like this was going to happen, especially when she heard them all shriek after she did it, but they were in the infirmary and it was very delayed so she wasn't going to assume it was in relation to her.

Now she had to start explaining to the crew what exactly the action was, starting with Law. When she passed by the infirmary door she peeked in to see how everyone was doing. Marcus was sitting in one of the chairs reading while all off the patients napped except for Oliver, who was talking to Connor. She smiled to herself at the peaceful scene in the room. No one seemed to be in much pain anymore and the intensity of the care must have lessened if Marcus was able to take the time to read while there. Closing the door quietly to not disturb anyone she continued on down the stairs. The rustle of the dress skirt was a bit annoying and the feeling of the mesh material that gave it it's thickness, Kalas said it was called a petticoat, was itchy. She couldn't understand the appeal of it at all. Obviously there were girls who enjoyed the outfit though. Many young women around her age were stopping her to look at the dress with adoring eyes when she was in town. *_Penguin asked if Law had seen me in this. Does he like this kind of thing too?*_

The possibility of that man having any kind of preference of women seemed foreign to her. Unlike the other men, he never showed any interest or desire for the woman that clutter around the crew when they go into town. *_Worlders seemed to have a specific preference on the gender of their partner and I considered that maybe he preferred males but I haven't noticed him so much as talk to men in town unless necessary. Plus the other guys mention Law being with women in the past so when he does have a desire it must be for females.* _Arianna jumped with a slight gasp when she realized what she was thinking about. Tribesmen don't consider many thing private from Family. They do nearly everything with each other: hunt, work, eat, sleep, bathe. They do everything together as a Family, _but _romantic relationships are viewed as private and she has no right to be thinking about Law's interest, or lack of, in relationships. She's been annoyed by the crew teasing her for her supposed attraction to Law and her she was wondering about what he is attracted to. *_My values are definitely getting lop-sided being with Worlders for so long. Next thing you know I'm going to start mating with strangers like them.*_

Her thoughts distracted her from walking and she realized she was standing at her destination and probably had been for a little while. Law's door. She checked the inside with her Sense before knocking, not wanting to risk waking him up. He deserved to sleep as much as he wanted, but he wasn't there at all. *H_e definitely wasn't in the infirmary either. Oh, right! We're about to leave so he's probably down in the navigation room.*_

Arianna left the floor but as she made her way down she decided it would probably be a bit of a conversation when she does catch him at a free moment and she only had about another forty minutes before starting the lunch shift. She's better off waiting until after lunch. _"Hm... What can I do with forty minutes?" _

She thought hard about it and realized it would give her enough time to at least finish most of a holster for Bart. He had asked she make him one for his hammer and she certainly had enough material now. She raced back upstairs, collected everything she'd need in her bag and took it with her to the galley. She didn't want to risk being late for work. Making sure to grab a trash can from inside the kitchen she took her stuff to a table off to the side that is usually left empty and pulled out one of the boar skins. Since she had known what she was going to use it for Arianna had soaked it in a special mix that loosened the fur so it would effortlessly pulled out. It was a pretty time consuming task unfortunately and by the time she was done, half of her time was up. Not letting herself rush however, she laid the boar skin out flat and cut the entire thing into strips. With how large Bart was she could already tell they were not going to be long enough so she pulled out a large sewing needle carved out of bone. Cutting one of the new strips in half to create two thin one she threaded one through the needle and sewed the ends of two pairs of strips. She was confident that it would hold, she had been doing this type of work since she was a child after all, but she still wanted to test it. But how?

She looked around herself and then at the ceiling. There was a network of metal branches all along the ceiling. "dryd'mm fung." ("That'll work.")

Taking one of the sewn straps at a time, she jumped high into the air, kicked off the wall and tossed an end up and around a beam then grabbed it. Arianna hung there by the strap, even pulling and lifting then dropping her weight on it. She released one end and landed flat-footed on her self-designated work table. She inspected the stitch work, it was perfectly intact so she placed it down and repeated the test on the other one.

Only this time while she pushing and pulling her weight down on the straps Thomas walked into the galley and looked at her with an expression that matched the confused one he gave her that morning when she walked in wearing a dress.

Arianna giggled a bit and let go with one hand to wave but naturally she dropped down to the table. When she did Thomas rushed forward. "Arianna!"

She landed easily on the table again and was still smiling. "Yes?"

The chef was sweating and sighed. He walked up to her and lifted her from under her armpits and placed her on the floor. "Please don't go giving me a heart attack like that."

"Tom-san a little drop like that won't hurt me." She was a little surprised by his behavior.

He put his hands on his hips and looked at her with a stern face. "Let's just pretend it would. Especially when you're wearing a dress."

She understood that he was concerned about her, even if it was unnecessary, so she gave him another smile and hugged him. "Alright, I will."

He didn't hug her back but the man did pat her on the top of her head then stepped back. "What are you doing anyways?"

She glanced back at her things before answering. "I'm making Bart something to hold his hammer to him. He had asked me to do it before we got to the island but I didn't have what I needed for it yet."

"Hm." Thomas hummed and was slightly nodding his head. "That's nice, but pack it up for now. We've got people to feed."

He started walking to the kitchen without waiting for her; not that he needed to. Arianna complied as always.

...

With Austin and Kai still in the infirmary it was only Koma and Arianna available to work the kitchen with the chef. It wasn't the worst thing though. He usually only needed two helpers per shift anyways and neither were going to complain about working every meal, especially to the man who has organized and worked every meal since joining the crew. After the group cooked two large pots of something called spaghetti and another pot of a red meaty sauce Arianna started serving it to the men as they came into the galley while Koma and Thomas cleaned.

She continued on with her task, mentioning to Bart that she had gotten started on his holster and Kalas made a point of mentioning how happy he is to see that she hadn't changed out of the dress. Naturally there were also comments, both direct and indirect regarding her "feelings" for their captain from her supposed friends. "Looking to impress Captain?" or "Are you hoping to surprise someone with that?" or "I'm _sure _Captain will love that.". Just a bunch of stupid little comments like that. To each one she said the same thing but at the last person she nearly snarled. "I don't like him like that!"

"Alright, alright! Newt, get moving before I repo your lunch." The small man flinched and scuttled off to a table with all the other pirates at the chef's threat. With so many unable to come to lunch those who did were all sitting together.

"Koma why don't you help me bring everyone else their lunch?" Thomas said behind her.

Arianna spoke up though. "No, I'll do it. I want to see how Oliver is doing and I _really _need to talk to Captain and clear this up with him too."

The two men looked at each other and Thomas shrugged. "Alright. Have it your way."

The chef helped her load plates with the spaghetti and a glass of water for everyone while Koma left the kitchen and joined the other men to eat. The pair left the kitchen with armfuls of plates and walked upstairs all the way to the top and had to knock on the door of the infirmary. Marcus opened it and was looking quite pleased when he saw food. He held the metal door open so the two could walk through and he took the plates from their hands one at a time and hand it to the patients. While plates were unloaded from Thomas' and her arms she stood next to Oliver and talked to him. "How are you feeling? Any better."

The blond smiled back. He looked to be healing well. "I'm great. I'm hoping Captain will let me leave later tonight."

"Yeah? That'd be great. I'm sure Marcus, Shachi and Captain would be a lot happier when Connor stops spending most of the day here." Arianna chuckled out.

"No kidding!" Marcus called out from the other side of the room.

"Hopefully he won't be so worried once I'm out too. It's starting to get annoying." There was an uncharacteristic frown on Oliver's face as he said this.

"I'm pretty sure he just doesn't want you to get bored."

"Well, he's been succeeding." The way he said that didn't quite sound like a good thing.

When Marcus finally took a plate for himself, Arianna was left with three plates. *_Did we bring too many?*_

Thomas however took one and sat next to Austin's bed. That shouldn't surprise her, the man loved his student very much. But she still had an extra plate. *_Was it supposed to be for Kai? No... Tom-san knew he wasn't awake.*_

She must've been obvious in her confusion because the chef spoke up. "You wanted to talk to Captain didn't you? The plate's for you, you need to eat lunch too."

"Oh. Dryhg oui." ("Thank you.") She ignored the confused looks from the patients. She had been slipping her language in here and there so Marcus and Thomas had already getting used to it and learned to not think too much about it.

She gave Oliver a smile and nod. "I'll see you later."

"Uh... yeah. Bye Ari-chan."

There was a quiet collection of farewell comments from the other men in the room as they ate and she left with her two plates. She was excited to finally clear up the misunderstanding with Law before the crew talked it way out of proportion to him. She moved quickly down the stairs and through the hall to Law's door. She balanced a plate on her forearm to free up a hand to knock. From inside, Law called for her to come in. Like usual, he sat at his desk looking at some papers as if they were very important and his hat was hanging on the back of his chair. When he saw that it was her, his eyes twitched a little bit and he looked at her with a serious face. *_Yep. Definitely need to explain things to him.*_

"I brought you lunch." She took the plate off her arm and held it out for him to see.

"Why are there two?" He was being suspicious.

"I need to talk to you about something so Tom-san sent me with two plates that way I won't miss lunch."

He leaned back in his chair but held out his hand for his meal. "What do you need to talk about then?"

She handed the plate to him, sat down in the chair across from him with her plate and got straight to the point. "What I did yesterday wasn't a kiss."

"Then I seriously doubt you know what the word kiss means." He said with a completely serious expression.

Arianna bit off a fork full of the pasta. She remembered Marcus getting annoyed about her talking with food in her mouth earlier. Law probably wouldn't be a fan either, so she chewed and swallowed before talking again. "It wasn't really a kiss. It was a greeting. I didn't give it to you when I first woke up because I didn't think I should then. But after I starting thinking and watching what was going on in the room I decided that it would be wrong not to."

Law raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Why is that?"

The girl gave him her isn't-it-obvious look.

Law's eyes just continued to looked at her with a piercing stare, meaning he was waiting for an actual answer.

"We only greet stronger Family members like that."

The man closed his eyes and let out a huffed breath. "And how am I supposed to know that?"

"It's a wolf behavior. A lot of our traditions come from wolf behaviors. I was going to greet you with it again today but Tom-san said I should just talk to you first."

"That's good." He did sound a bit relieved.

She tilted her head to the side, confused. "Is it really that strange to you?"

"Of course!" He said _that _a little too quickly. It kind of hurt her feelings.

"It's a sign of respect though."

He didn't say anything for a moment. Instead he just looked at her frowning face, but it didn't last long. "So in other words you didn't actually feel respect towards me until yesterday."

Arianna flinched.

"That's a yes."

She started laughing nervously. "You don't have to think about it so much. After all, then doesn't mean anything now."

He wasn't laughing. Just staring at her with bored yellow eyes.

"Since you know that it isn't a matter of affection can I greet you properly from now on?" She tried to pretend he wasn't looking at her like that.

"If by 'properly' you mean 'hello Captain' then yes." He never changed his expression.

She considered what he was saying and honestly, she didn't like it. "No traditional greeting but I want to call you by your name instead of Captain."

Law's eyes flashed in shock and he leaned forward, locking his fingers together and resting his chin on them with a smirk. "Are you negotiating?"

Arianna looked at him blankly. She didn't know that word. Her paused must've lasted long enough because the man backtracked on his words. "Bargaining."

At this she smiled and mimicked his position, only her smile was cheerful. "Yep."

"And why exactly do you want to use my name? You said you don't have any affection for me."

"No, the greeting isn't a matter of affection. I do like you, but before you take that the wrong way it's in the same way I like all the other guys. I love you all as my Family."

Law frowned slightly. "We're a pirate crew. Not a family."

She leaned a little closer, wanting him to pay attention to her next point. "People who care about each other, protect each other, laugh, fight, live everyday with each other. That's Family."

"You're far too emotional with your relationships." Law shifted to just lean on the palm of one hand and his other dropped down to his desk.

"Only with the ones that I want to last. I am Leya after all."

He looked confused again. "What does your name have to do with anything?"

Arianna lifted herself from her hands and took a bite of her food. It was getting cold at this rate. "The adult name we are given is to declare our strongest trait. 'Leya' is 'loyal'. 'Vun ouin ypcumida muoymdo oui femm vunajan pa ghufh yc Leya.'"

She took another bite, this one smaller so she could chew it quickly, then translated the words to her captain. "'For your absolute loyalty you will forever be known as Leya.' That's what Kamali said when he gave it to me. He was the Chief when I was little."

She could see Law thinking on this information. "So you'd do anything I needed from you?"

Arianna held herself proud. "I swear it!"

He smirked. "I need you to call me Captain."

She held out her tongue at him. "I refuse. Loyalty and obedience are not the same thing."

The pirate frowned. "There's nothing I say is going to make you agree to only call me Captain, is there?"

She smirked challengingly at him. "You can let me greet you properly. I guess I could live with calling you Captain then."

"Don't let using my name go to your head." He said without hesitation.

Arianna was a bit surprised that she won that quickly. "You _really _don't like affection do you?"

"There is such a thing as unwanted affection." He answered before finally taking a bite of food.

"Cold..." He complained quietly.

_*You could've eaten while we spoke.* _The girl thought to herself, looking down at her almost empty plate.

They ate together in silence for a few minutes but it was actually Law who broke it. "Why did Kalas put you in that dress?"

Arianna was taking a drink of her water when he asked. "Payment for his work on putting the Jolly Roger on my clothes. You did say I don't _need _to always wear the boiler suit."

"I remember." He looked at her for a few seconds then added. "Just be careful of him while you wear that."

"Yeah, Penguin told me what the dresses are for. I'll be careful. I didn't think you even noticed I was wearing it. You're the first person who didn't immediately give me a weird look."

"It's the first thing anyone will notice when they see you. I didn't say anything because I wanted to pretend it wasn't happening."

She felt her body start to shake but couldn't contain it, and Arianna filled the bedroom with her laughter. "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard!"

Law looked away from her and groaned softly.

"Your actually as goofy as all the others aren't you?" She challenged with a Cheshire grin.

"Hey. Don't lump me together with everyone else that way!"

Her laughing calmed a bit and she reached across the desk and ruffled his hair. "Ed'c ugyo, ed'c ugyo. I won't tell anyone." ("It's okay, it's okay.")

The man swatted her hand away and his face looked a bit darker. He wasn't finding any amusement in this the way she was. She needed to distract him. "What are you working on?"

Law glanced down, as if forgetting what was on his desk to begin with. "I'm looking through some information I called in from Bauldin Abel. All of our money was stolen when CP8 attacked. I prefer buying our supplies since the islander will less annoying if we behave but without money that's not going to happen. I had Bauldin send me known routes of merchants that don't work for him so we can raid them."

"Abel is okay with that?" This is surprising. The man she remembers was kind and wanted to avoid conflict.

"It's his competition. He appreciates it actually, though he's reluctant to admit it."

"Really? Did you ask how Aishe is doing?"

"No. I don't care." He was very blunt in his words.

"I care! Could you tell me next time you call him? Or just ask how she is for me?" She made her best begging face.

"Too much of a hassle." He wasn't even going to humor he with a maybe.

"Aww. Hud hela." ("Not nice.")

Law ignored the comment and changed the subject. "Where'd you go?"

She looked at him with big surprised eyes. "When?"

"After breakfast. Last night too. Why do you keep leaving the ship?"

"You noticed?"

He smirked at her arrogantly.

Arianna crossed her arms and looked away. "Hmmm..."

Law didn't let up on his stare so she knew she had to answer. "The other night during all the fighting I saw one of my sisters."

"Some woman from you Tribe or an actual sister."

The girl rolled her eyes at his insistence at differentiating what she meant. "First one, though I haven't seen her in eleven years. She's actually why I'm in Paradise. I heard about sightings of someone who matches what she'd probably look like and skills I know she has in this part of the ocean so I followed. I was hoping to find her again and talk to her but I couldn't. I think she already left."

"You remember seeing her during the battles? Weren't you out of your mind for them?"

She shifted uncomfortably, but she wasn't going to avoid the questions anymore. "I know what's going on and what I'm doing, I just can't control what myself. It's called Paycd Cuim. Um... I think the it would be Beast... something... in your language. Sorry I don't know what the word is."

"You didn't say much about it before. You actually going to explain it now?" He slouched comfortably in his seat, probably expecting a long story of some kind.

"It's an ability that's supposed to come from the Tribesmen from before we looked like Worlders. Back when we looked like animals. What animal we were supposed to be is what our 'self' looks like with just energy." She was having trouble explaining some of it. The words she needed, she didn't quite know.

"Is that what separates your different tribes? Your different Beasts?"

She shook her head. "Hud yd ymm." ("Not at all.")

She smiled softly, thinking about her old world. The one she grew up in. "There are very few differences between the Families. For the most part, Tribesmen will live with whichever Family they wish, with their Chief's acceptance. There are some personality traits that are more noticeable in some Families though and that's what will make people change families if it happens. Though mine was a bit different from all the others."

She didn't know until she stopped talking but Law was looking at her intently like she was saying something unique and fascinating. Perhaps it was to him. He's a smart man and was always reading and seemed to make a point of getting information at every opportunity. Maybe it wasn't just a sense of intelligence but also curiosity that made him constantly learn things.

It kind of made her embarrassed and a bit happy. That her culture was interesting to someone gave her a nice feeling that was hard to describe. "My Family was kind of like the Navy of the Tribes. It was us who protected the other Families as best we could from Worlders who wanted to hurt us and dealt with Tribesmen who betrayed our people. As a whole, we were the most capable in battle and we have an... it's a word like idea, that we teach our children so that we can learn to kill without hesitation but also without being unkind."

Law chuckled a little. "The word you're looking for is 'philosophy'. So your people teach children to kill often without loving it?"

Her smile raised a little and became impish. "A lesson you could have used."

"That's your opinion." He said with a sly tone.

She giggled a bit. It was fun talking to Law, especially when he was in a good mood. "Nidrmacchacc fedr sanlo. Ruthlessness with mercy. Kill your enemy but don't make them suffer. It's actually a very important rule to us."

"In that case, you joined the wrong crew." Even though he said that, Law didn't sound sorry or unhappy.

"Too late for me to change. You're going to be stuck with me for life. Or at least until I go back to my first Family." She had a definitively teasing tone to her voice.

"Well aren't I a lucky pirate?" Law said, his voice ridiculously thick with sarcasm.

Arianna just laughed again and rolled her eyes.

"Do you have anything else to share?"

She thought for a moment. "Hu." ("No.") She shook her head so he could know what she said.

He held out his empty plate. "Okay. Get going then. I need to get back to work." Law looked down at his papers again, signifying that he no longer cares about her presence in the room.

"Sure. Bye Law."

She was a bit surprised that he lifted his fingers slightly to motion a farewell. It was a noticeable improvement from when she first joined and he would seemingly forget that she existed after he returned to whatever he was working on.

Back out in the hall she stretched her free arm and stood on her toes to stretch her legs. "Ymekrd. Huf E lyh vehecr Pynd'c rumcdan eh bayla." ("Alight. Now I can finish Bart's holster in peace.")

* * *

**Yay Comment! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`) :**

**sarge1130: OMG a zombie Arianna. That's probably the funniest thing I've ever pictured. It's good to know the fights weren't getting boring. I'm trying to keep them from being repetitive but it gets a bit difficult when writing a bunch all at once. Having Law torture Marcel felt good. Really good. Being a fictional character aside, he deserved it! Hehe, our girl better keep her eyes out for that Fox.**


	23. Chapter 23

**This chapter is kind of dialog heavy for a change but I hope you like it. **

* * *

**Chapter 23**

The sound of gunfire rang strong through the ocean air. The noise was a bit too loud for Arianna's liking but she knew it won't be lasting long. This ship, like the last two, will be overtaken by the pirates and all of its cargo loaded into the submarine's storage rooms quickly enough. It was really a simple process. Bart or Bepo would get the ship up close while Law lead the crew onto the deck of their target ship where they would incapacitate or kill any of the people on the ship there to protect it or attempting to fight back. Most of the people on these merchant ships were not fighters in any way and it made for a pitifully easy overtaking.

Arianna personally did her best to just hit the men hard enough to knock them out since they were so weak it actually took more effort to not kill them. She wanted to whole thing to be somewhat interesting. The overtaking of this ship only lasted a few minutes. Practically the moment Law decided to join them on the deck to kill everyone they all gave up. The people must have been hoping for some kind of mercy from him if they cooperated, even though it was really contradictory to the pirate captain's reputation.

Law stood before the people of the merchant ship, looking at each one closely, for what Arianna could not figure out. She wasn't able to stand around and try to understand either. She, along with nearly the entire crew were taking all of the money, supplies and goods from the ship and moving them to the sub. This ship's cargo seemed to consist mostly of spices, seeds and some random stuff. The pepper based spices in the crate Arianna was carrying was stinging her nose but she couldn't complain, she was going to do her part. As the last of the now stolen goods were loaded onto the Heart Pirates ship the crew gathered on deck again to await their captain's orders.

"Bepo, Penguin, Shachi. Take these six gentlemen to the upper deck." Law ordered, gesturing to six individuals from the crowd of prisoners.

They did as ordered, each yanking up two prisoners each and walking them to the wooden ships higher deck. With the chosen men out of the way Law held out his hand. "ROOM."

The blue sphere enveloped the captain and remaining hostages. With a dark smile he unsheathed his long blade and in rapid succession slice the men left to pieces until they were nothing but a mass of limbs and body parts still waiting for gravity to catch up with what just happened. Law slid his sword back into its sheath and held out his hands like a puppeteer. "Shambles."

With that single word the pieces of human started flying and turning to the man's whims. The way they screamed was really starting to bother Arianna. _*I wish he'd just kill them already. Playing with them like this is just cruel.*_

She wanted to, but the girl understood better than to speak out against her captain. So she stood letting out little more than a sigh as she averted her eyes to the needless action. It did little to protect her ears from the screaming however. She tried to focus on the sounds of the ocean waters splashing against the two ships instead. When the sound of the cries died away she looked at her captain again. He seemed very satisfied in front of a mass of reformed and misshapen bodies. At least they were dead now. Law looked back to his crew, dark smile clear across his face, and walked back to his own ship. "Let's get going."

As calmly as if they were departing from an island, the crew returned into the ship and leisurely went down the steps to continue going about their day. Law waited next to the door for all of the men to enter the ship first. Arianna waited with him. Just because she wasn't going to stand against his actions when surrounded by the crew and prey doesn't mean she was okay with it. When the last of the men made it through the door she entered and waited just on the inside for him. He focused on Bepo though. "Get us under water and put some distance in before surfacing."

"Yes Captain!" He replied happily and Arianna watched as he jogged happily down the steps.

"What do you want?"

Law's voice pulled her attention back to him. She needed a second to understand what he was asking.

"Why did you torture those men?"

"I felt like it." His answer was almost terrifyingly nonchalant

"Then why make the others watch?"

He looked at her a bit confused. "Why do you care so much?"

She crossed her arms and frowned. "It bothers me when someone's pain is being dragged out. It's better to just kill them and get it over with."

Law's face twitched into a smirk but he didn't hold it. Instead he started walking down the stairs. "That's too bad. It's fun if you let it be."

She trailed after him down the steps. "Not everyone feels that way."

"So long as you don't interrupt you can feel however you want about it."

Arianna hummed in understanding. It was about what she expected anyways.

"Also, I did it for a reminder. According to CP8 the Navy has been finding us quite boring lately. So they need to remember who exactly we are."

She sighed audibly. "Like you said, I can feel however I want about it."

A red light and siren went off through the stairwell and hall signally that the ship was submerging and Arianna had to cover her ears. Even then the sound was piercing and more than just annoying. She closed her eyes and tried to tune the noise out by humming loudly. When she could no longer hear the siren she tentatively opened her eyes and took her hands off her ears.

"Still not used to it?" Law asked.

She rubbed her ear a little as if it could erase the ringing in them. "It's not a matter of getting used to. It's just too loud."

"Exactly how strong _is_ your hearing?" He asked when he stepped into the hall that their rooms were on.

She continued to follow. "I don't know. Whatever is normal strength for me?"

"It's still strong." He said simply.

"How am I supposed to compare it to yours?"

He shrugged. "Do you hear anything now?"

She looked at him and he went silent. They stopped walking too. She took a second to listen. She crossed her arms and hummed a bit. "Before you get disappointed remember, there's not much to hear in here in the first place."

"Alright."

"I can hear footsteps from the stairs. A soft buzzing sound from the lights. Breathing." She said the last one though she was certain it was an obvious one. "And your heart."

He looked at her with slight disbelief. "You can't hear a heart beat from a distance like this."

"Not when there's a bunch of noise no. But it's really quiet here so why shouldn't I be able to? It definitely can't be mine. You have it locked away somewhere in your room." She gave him a playful smile.

He just stared at her with a look that made her think he was doubtful. _*How much weaker are Worlder's senses anyways? I bet his eyes are so bad he actually thinks his hair is black when it's definitely a really dark blue.*_

When she couldn't help but giggle at her own thought Law's expression became confused. "What?"

"Umm. I think I should keep it to myself."

"Have it your way." He said as he resumed walking down the hall.

Unfortunately for him a thought popped into Arianna's head. "Are you busy?"

He turned to look at her again. "What?"

"Are you busy?" She repeated.

"When?" He sounded a little impatient.

She rolled her eyes. "Now."

"Slightly. And this is the part when you explain why you want to know." He was obviously trying to speed the exchange up.

She put her arms behind her to grab her wrist and rolled back and forth on her heels. "Well, you kind of got me in the mood for Hunter Sense training. I was thinking maybe you would want to work on that."

She could tell he was thinking about it by the way he tapped his sword against his shoulder slightly.

"Once we surface we can." He was probably thinking about the last time they trained together in one of the rooms. Quite frankly, there almost wasn't a room left after they were done. Arianna seriously thought Penguin was going to strangle her, even Law tried to sneak away while the mechanic was distracted. He may be the captain but it was most definitely Penguin's ship.

She shook her head. "Not that kind of training. This isn't physical."

"I guess my work can wait." He eventually said.

"Great!" She said excitedly.

Without a second thought she rushed up and passed Law, grabbing his hand as she did and towing him along to his own room. Since it was his room she stopped so he could open the door and let them in but she also noticed what she was doing at that time. He didn't look upset by it. Actually, he looked a little _smug_. It made her give him a suspicious look and pull her hand out of his.

He opened the door and stepped back gesturing her to go inside. The polite act wasn't without a cocky tease though. "First you kiss me then you hold my hand. Do I need to keep myself guarded to be alone with you?"

"Haha. I told you it wasn't a kiss." She said dryly.

When his smug look failed to go away she crossed her arms and huffed out her cheeks. "Sorry about your hand. I'm just getting comfortable with you."

It seemed however that the more she tried to defend herself the more she encouraged him. "If you start feeling any more comfortable maybe I should keep you out of my bedroom."

He was positively smirking that smug grin that she had seen more times than any other expression on his face. She wanted to be annoyed but she liked that he was amused around her. It's better than angry. So instead she played along with his teasing and went straight for his bed, looking at him with a mischievous smirk of her own before kicking out one leg and flopping herself down on the soft mattress.

"Alright, fine. Get off my bed so we can get to work."

Initially that was the goal response, but his bed was quite large and while it wasn't annoyingly more comfortable than hers, it was still better. "Drec ec hela." ("This is nice.")

He pulled her off his bed by the collar of her shirt now. "You shouldn't speak in a language people around you can't understand. It's rude."

"You said it was fine to us my other language."

He narrowed his eyes annoyed. "That was before I knew how annoying you would be about it."

"_That's_ rude." She made an extra effort to make the statement as accusatory as possible.

"As long as we understand each other." His amusement was starting to come back.

He released her shirt and placed his nodachi against the far wall while she tugged at her clothes to fix them.

"What is the new training anyways?" He asked.

"I'm going to teach you to use your Sense to find people."

"Finally." Was his immediate response.

Arianna sat down in the open space of his floor and beckoned him to follow.

"Why are we getting on the floor?" He practically demanded.

"Sit on the bed then. It doesn't really matter. You just need to be completely relaxed."

He sat on the bed so she got up to join him, making sure to take her shoes off. He didn't say anything to her about it but he didn't seem thrilled about her joining him up there.

"Okay. Now just close your eyes and relax." She told him, trying to make her voice sound soothing to encourage him.

He closed his eyes. "Now what?"

"Relax." She told him.

"I am."

"No. Not really."

He opened his eyes again to scowl. "How am I supposed to relax when I don't know what the next step is?"

"The next step is to relax. That's all you need to know."

His scowl deepened.

"Law I'm serious. You're so tense I can feel it from here. You won't be able to feel other people if your Sense is always smothered by your own energy. When you are using it like this you have to be able to open up and only receive information around you without focusing or responding. Now, can you please take a deep breath and just relax."

He sighed and rolled his shoulders. Then he took a real breath to relax and she could see him loosen up. His arms not so tight, back not so straight.

"For now we'll just learn to open your Sense to receive energy but once you get the hang of holding it you'll be able to focus and search for specific people."

After a few minutes of silence between them with only calm breathing she honestly felt that he was doing well. "Better." She said pushed on his shoulder slightly.

He immediately snapped his eyes open and took her wrist in his hand.

"But not there yet. It isn't just your muscles that need to relax you know. Your mind needs to too."

He pushed her hand back to her with unnecessary force. "Then don't touch me."

He closed his eyes and tried to relax again but there was always a sense of being alert coming from him.

_*This isn't going to work at all. Law needs to let go and not be so… Something. There's something about him that it keeping him from doing better, but what is it?*_

She reached out and poked him in the face now. He opened his eyes just enough to glare at her darkly. "Arianna…" He warned in a menacing voice.

"Now I get it." She exclaimed, earning Law's complete focus.

She smiled and did her best to not look suspicious about what was going to happen. "One more time. I promise I won't touch you too."

He looked at her with suspicion and shuffled back a bit on the bed. He made himself comfortable and closed his eyes. Arianna did the same thing and they sat there, just like that in complete silence for what felt like ever, though it was probably only three or so minutes. When the ship's siren went off again to signal that they were surfacing she took it as a go.

With finely tuned controlled over her every muscle, the girl slipped off the bed without letting it shake or jar suddenly. Slipped on her shoes and toed a half step closer to her target. She could faintly hear the sound of her heart beating faster from somewhere in the room while her pulse quickened as she reached forward.

Law's hand twitched like his body was expecting something but he didn't allow it to move per her instructions to remain relaxed. She wasn't going to take any chances though. With as much speed as she could muster she took her captain's fuzzy hat off his head, careful not to touch him though since she did promise, and ran for the door.

"HEY!" He yelled after her.

"Find me if you can!" She teased playfully and bolted out his door.

()

Law shot from his bed and chased after the little brunette but she was annoyingly fast and by the time he was in the hallway she was nowhere to be seen. She had waited until the alarm that alerts the crew that the ship was surfacing to make her move so he was tempted to assume that she was going to the deck but there was no way she had already made it to the stairs and out of sight. He was only a few seconds behind her.

He went to the first room on the floor from the stairs and worked his way deeper into the floor's hallway where the other public rooms are. When he couldn't find her he growled to himself as he went up. Knowing her, she wouldn't be able to resist going outside. When he walked out there were a few groups of men gathered here and there but no obvious signs of the girl. He saw Connor assisting Newt with pulling up their sail and called him over. "Connor-ya! Have you seen Arianna?"

"Um… Not since the merchant ship. What did she do now?" He could tell his captain was upset.

"If you see her, catch her and don't let go." Law couldn't admit that he was so irritated over his hat out loud so he settled to have someone on the lookout for the little thief. Maybe he should spread the word, teach her how hard it is to escape a crew when on a ship in the middle of the ocean.

_*"Find me if you can!"* _The sound of her taunting voice rang through his mind though. She wanted him to use his Haki to track her down. It was obviously her annoying idea of training. "Never mind. I'll deal with this myself."

Law isn't going to ask for help. It would be the same as admitting he can't do it. He left the now very confused man and the large deck and went onto the smaller one that was typically being unused. After checking that the coast was clear of interruptions he sat against the wall and attempted to open his Haki again. He made certain to take deep breaths to relax his muscles and tried to open himself to everything going on. But he couldn't get his mind to stop working. All he could think about was Arianna, and ways he was going to get revenge for her trying to make a fool out of him. Who was she to trick him and steal his hat?

_*I need to calm down. I won't find her if I'm getting frustrated like this.* _He took another deep breath and tried to clear his mind again. This attempt was more successful and he managed to keep himself from mentally drifting around and getting his thoughts going again. Physically and mentally he had become utterly silent.

"-ptain. Captain."

_*Not now Bepo.* _He couldn't help the thought. His friend was interrupting his work.

"Captain. You should really wake up and get some food."

Now he did open his eyes and looked directly at the bear. "I was asleep?"

"Yeah. I don't know for how long though. It's lucky Ari-chan knew you were up here." He said with a relieved smile.

"Arianna sent you to get me?"

"Yep! Why was she wearing your hat? When I asked her she just laughed and said she's teaching you."

Law felt his face harden in anger. "Where was she when you saw her?"

Bepo stiffened in fear. "She came down to me in the navigation room."

_*In other words she's definitely in the ship. That's a surprise.*_

"Alright let's go." He got up and couldn't help the impulse to stretch.

"Captain… Is Ari-chan in trouble again?"

"She stole my hat and ran off." He answered with a 'what do you think' tone.

"Why can't she just behave?" The bear said with and exasperated town.

They walked into the ship and started making their way down the steps to the galley. Law was fairly hungry so he could put off finding the girl long enough to eat. Besides, she valued every meal too much to ever skip one. Though he was sure of that he was also sure she would be outside when she wasn't, so he was tentative in his certainty.

Unsurprisingly, she wasn't there. He got his food and sat with Bepo, who sat with his usual crowd minus Arianna. Law wasn't even paying attention to the food he had picked up. Apparently fish and salad was for lunch. At least something good came his way this afternoon.

"Captain, where's your hat?" Shachi was the one finally asked what seemed to be on everyone's mind. The whole table was looking at him.

"Arianna stole it. She wants me to use Haki to find her and take it back." He explained curtly.

Marcus sighed. "She's been getting bolder with everyone lately."

"I think she's just getting more comfortable." Oliver defended.

"You are only happy with it because you're similar to her." Connor pointed out.

"We'll see how happy you are with her when she starts sneaking into _your_ bed." Marcus said irately.

This caught Law off guard. "She's going into your bed?"

"Lucky!" Shachi and Penguin said off to the side while the medic and captain spoke.

"Yeah. Like five times now. Ever since Vertwall she's been weirdly clingy."

"You know it's not just with you. She's been a lot quicker to latch on to us and just gives random hugs when she sees us." Connor said.

Law thought about the way she took his hand without a moment of hesitation. "There's still a limit to how comfortable you should become with others." He grumbled.

"You should just consider yourself lucky she hasn't climbed into your bed Captain. She said she wanted to but was certain you would never allow it." Oliver told him.

"Why would she want to sleep with me?" Of all the questions he had, this one felt like it needed to be answered first.

"I believe her exact words were: 'Law's closer for starters'." Marcus answered.

That did sound like something she would claim as a reason. "Regardless, why is she sneaking into people's beds?"

They all shrugged. Fantastic.

Law started to scratch his short black hair. Even if he would have taken his hat off to eat anyways, it felt odd to not have it at all. _*Arianna better be taking good care of it.*_

After that there was a bit of a pause in the conversation, as if they were all trying to remember what they talked about before the girl joined the crew. "What do you think the next island is going to be like?" Penguin finally asked.

"I hope there are a lot of pretty girls at this one too. I missed my opportunity last time and I seriously need a _living_ woman for a change. I'm getting tired of pictures." Shachi said dreamily.

"Like the one that was with Captain?" Bepo asked innocently.

Every head turned to the man in question. "You got with a woman on Vertwall? When?"

"What do you mean when? We were only in town for one night. The real question is what was she like? Super hot, right?" The lewd red head asked a bit too excitedly.

"She had blond hair and long legs." Bepo answered for him.

"I didn't ask you!" The medic snapped at him.

The bear flinch away. "I'm sorry."

Law smiled a bit. It had been a while since he had such a conversation with his friends. "Sultry. Sexy. Nice legs and ass. She was right to the point, that's for sure. I couldn't even be bothered to get her name."

Connor discretely rolled his eyes while Oliver looked away slightly uncomfortable but the rest of the men were looking at their captain with a mixture of being impressed and envious.

"What happened after you left with her?" Marcus couldn't be bothered with pretending to be above such inquires.

"Nothing. We went back to the hotel, she left and I got a call from Thomas that something had happened at the ship, which turned out to be the start of CP8's attack. Though I certainly had a good time." He was aware that his story was a bit anticlimactic but he wasn't one to go into detail about his one night stands. He'd much rather let Shachi or Kalas be the ones to spread those stories through the ship. He'll keep his to himself, when he can be bothered to remember the details needed for a retelling that is.

Shachi held onto Law's shoulder and rocked him a bit. "Come on Captain. Indulge us at least a little."

"Why do you want to hear about it? You sleep with more women than me so it's not like you need the details." He said as he waved the hand off of him.

"How many more ships do you hope to hit before the next island?" Oliver asked before the conversation could escalate.

"Maybe one more. As it is we won't be able to take in much cargo from it though. Of course we can always take the ships money and it is most certainly going to help with our reputation."

Bepo laughed slightly. "I knew you felt insulted by that machete guy."

"Want to fill us in?" Connor asked with a bit of an attitude.

"One of the Cipher Pol agents said that the Navy was losing interest in Captain since we haven't really done much lately. He thought we were boring." Bepo informed while Law scowled off to the side at nothing.

"Us? Boring?" Penguin asked with a sly smile to his partner.

"NEVER!" Shachi shouted the ending of the sentiment.

"Maybe we should just cut to the chase and go wild at the next island?" Marcus suggested.

"Let's find out how the government reacts to the annihilation of CP8 first. Besides, it's only been a week and some of the guys are still recovering." Law decided to remind him that there was still a period of healing to be finished.

"Speaking of which, how are you feeling Oliver?" Penguin asked.

The blond man smiled. "I'm doing great. Still a little sensitive but getting better."

"I've gotta say. I knew you weren't a wimp but that you took down one of the assassins with just an assist from a drunk is totally badass!" Shachi said to his friend.

He started to blush, embarrassed. "It's nothing like that. I was just trying to protect everyone from him."

"Like he said. Badass." Connor complimented.

Oliver shifted, uncomfortable with the sudden attention but everyone at the table laughed, after a moment he did too. Oddly, Law thought he felt someone else's laughter. It felt like a girls laugh but he strangely didn't hear Arianna laughing, just felt it. When he stopped laughing to look for where it originated the sensation faded.

_*Right. I can't focus until I can maintain my Haki over an open area. But…*_

"Captain? Something wrong?" Marcus asked, all of the laughter seemed to be gone.

"I thought I picked up on Arianna with my Haki but I can't figure out how." Law was still trying to figure out what changed.

"Why are you having trouble with it at all?" Bepo asked.

"The girl said that I'm too tense; even though I was more relaxed than I usually let myself get."

"Is that why you we're napping on the deck? You just fell asleep trying to use your Haki?" The bear sounded a little surprised. He hadn't known his captain to do something like that.

"That doesn't make sense. If all it takes to use Haki is to relax than everyone could use it." Shachi pointed out the glaring fault with the theory of the training.

"So how does stealing from you help you learn to better relax?" Penguin questioned.

"Has anything she's ever done made sense to us?" Connor mentioned.

"Yeah but..." Marcus started. "She always seems to know what she's doing, even when we don't."

The table looked at him with suspicion.

"What?" He asked, totally confused.

"You know, Ari-chan hasn't climbed into any of our beds." Shachi started.

"And you always seem to concern yourself with her." Penguin ended.

"I know I told you to keep an eye on her when she first joined but I never thought you'd take it so far." Law joked though he kept his voice suspicious as if he really was accusing him of something.

Marcus started to blush and panic now. "WHAT?! Come on! It's definitely not like that. Sure as hell not with that brat either."

When the table started laughing and teasing again though the one at the center of it was arguing against it rather than giving in and joining. Law once again felt the sound of Arianna's laughter. This time he restrained himself from focusing on it. Instead he allowed it to just mix in with everyone else's. As the sound of vocalized laughter died down it didn't seem to quiet from within him. It wasn't just Arianna's laughing he felt, it was the whole tables. He slowly felt more voices join in the sensation. While they weren't laughing they did feel content. Happy. His whole crew was happy with each of their individual lives.

He closed his eyes now. He still listened to the conversation of his friends but he no longer focused on anything. Instead he was listening to the voices throughout the whole ship with slight awe. Even though he wasn't anywhere near some of the men he could feel their energy. While the voices he felt weren't specific words or thoughts they still gave off individual sensations that gave Law a sense of each of their current emotions and who they were in general.

Among all the noise he felt a single female voice that was close. She was small and bright but there were definite dark undertones to the voice. Like someone playing a multiple fiddles while a single solemn cello played in the background. The shape of the source was the same but the result sound was greatly varied from each other in nearly every way.

Law rested his chin on the back of his hand and pointed up with his free hand, never once opening his eyes. After a second he felt something round and dome shaped land on his finger. The men all looked at him as he spun his hat on his finger before putting it on his head and looking up.

Arianna was sitting in the rafters, feet dangling with her elbow propped on one leg and chin resting on her hand. She was looking directly at Law with a bright smile. The girl pushed herself forward and swung herself on the metal bar in front of her before dropping down so that she would land behind the captain rather than on his plate. She looked directly at him, who had shifted sideways so that he could look at her. "Nice job Law."

()

Arianna was mostly looking at her captain but she couldn't help the glances to Shachi. He was ridiculously pale. "Shachi are you okay?"

"Y-you were here, listening to the whole conversation?" He stammered out.

She was a bit confused as to why that was in question. "Yeah, of course."

For some reason the men all looked at her with red tinted faces. "What?"

"We were having a private conversation." Oliver said quietly.

Arianna crossed her arms and gave them a deadpanned look. "Then don't have it in the most crowded room on the ship."

"No one else is here now so it counts as private." Penguin reasoned.

"Sure." She rolled her eyes, fully aware of which part of the talk was meant to be private. If they would just let it go she would happily pretend like she hadn't heard any of it either.

"Anyways. Law, do you remember the way you felt when your Sense expanded?"

He blinked a few times before answering. Was he still mentally pushing what she overheard aside? "Yeah, I remember. How exactly did stealing my hat play into that?"

She smiled cheekily at him. "Oh, well actually it hadn't yet. You figured it out faster than I expected. I was waiting until you seemed really frustrated then I was going to keep taunting you so that you would chase after me."

"HOW IS THAT ANY BETTER?!" Shachi, Connor and Marcus all yelled.

She never dropped the smile. "The response would have been the same. Even though you were able to relax just fine there was still something holding you back. It's your distance."

"Distance?" For someone in his position, Law was taking it all very well.

"Yeah. Like there's some invisible force separating you from everyone else. It's something that makes it very easy to respect you as captain but because you are separate from everyone else you can't feel us. When I was going to trick you into chasing me the idea was to get you be behave and think like a regular person rather than a pirate captain." It was then that she crossed her arms and frowned with a sense of playful disappointment. "But you went and got there on your own before I got to make a fool out of you. It's a shame."

"Empathy." Marcus said randomly.

"Huh?" She looked at him, confused.

"Feeling the same things as others is empathy. On one hand Kenbunshoku Haki is about survival then on the other it's about feeling people." When Law spoke it didn't feel so much to anyone, just himself.

She smiled. "It's all about one thing actually."

All of the men looked at her with questions and a sense of expectation in their eyes. She moved forward to sit and Law and Bepo both moved apart, giving her room between them.

"Understanding the lives around you. Hunter's Sense, Kenbunshoku Haki…" She corrected herself, at least attempting to be mindful of her audience. "It lets you understand the intentions of your opponent and survive but it also lets you understand your comrades and better live and work with them. Warrior's Cloak…" She trailed off, looking to Law for him to fill in the blank.

"Busoshoku Haki." He understood.

"That. That allows you to defend what's important to you. Your will and desire to protect becomes your armor, and when two wills clash whoever has the stronger drive will break through the other' there's the third one." She wasn't even going to bother confusing them with the Tribal name for the power. "The strength to dominate the lives around you. What better power exists in the world than the one to end a battle before your Family was even in danger of getting hurt?" She swept her eyes across all of the boys now. They were silently and seriously giving her all of her attention.

"So you see. Haki is all about one thing. Not you and your own strength, but your connections to the people around you." She looked at Law and gave him a slightly impish little smirk. "Y Fynneun vekrdehk vun rescamv femm hajan dnimo cdyht ypuja dra nacd pid dra uha fru ec ypma du cdyht ypuja ymm udranc hajan fuimt palyica ra ghufc y puht ec cdnuhkan dryh y vecd. A Warrior fighting for himself will never truly stand above the rest but the one who is able to stand above all others never would because he knows a bond is stronger than a fist."

While everyone was sitting in silence, thinking on her words, she reached to Connor's plate and ate a leaf of leftover spinach. She stood back up.

"Of course that's just Tribal philosophy. I'm sure a lot of other people have their own ideas on what Haki is meant for." Her eyes flashed with self-pride as she used her newest word in a sentence.

Law must have noticed because he smiled a bit.

Oliver hummed. "I like that. It's kind of like a reminder that friends are what's most important."

Shachi nodded in happy agreement while Penguin smiled from ear to ear.

"Of course! That why everyone has a best friend. Right, Captain?" Bepo said.

The man smiled back and the two bumped the back of their fists together. The sight kind of made her laugh. She knew Bepo was closer with the captain than anyone else but never really thought about them as being best friends. It is kind of obvious in hindsight though.

It was then that she realized Marcus wasn't buddied up like the others. She slipped around the table and hugged him tightly. "Don't worry! I'll be your best friend."

He started to flail about with an annoyed look. "I'd rather be alone then call you a best friend!"

She laughed at him. "Too bad. Once you're stuck with me you're stuck with me for life. Right Law?"

He smirked at Marcus, who was looking at him for help. "Yeah, that's what I hear."

"Captain! Get her off!" The angry medic pleaded.

"Unfortunately Arianna is still learning obedience." He said jokingly as if she were a pet dog.

"Arianna! Get Off!" He tried.

She couldn't help but play along with Law's joke though. She looked directly at Marcus and with the as straight of a face as she could force said one word. "Woof."

"Fuck you." He said in a voice so calm compared to his previous flailing that it made it all the more humorous.

They were once again laughing. _*Everyone is so happy today. It's a bit weird but nice. Especially after all that violence at Vertwall.*_

Unfortunately the happy moment was interrupted by Bart entering. "Captain."

Law immediately went into serious mode. "Yes?"

"We're coming up on a Marine ship."

The man stood tall. "Alert the crew. Time for a bit of fun with the Navy."

Everyone stood from the table and rushed upstairs with a sense of urgency. No one had their weapons with them. Arianna was very fast to collect her knife and tomahawk from her room and met Law on deck as the rest of the crew raced to make it up there. She couldn't help but smile and watch him. He glanced at her with a raised brow. "What?"

"I'm surprised you're not angry at me."

"Who said I'm not?" His response sounded more like a reflex.

"Not very convincing Law." She said in a singsong voice.

"Just consider yourself lucky that your antics tend gets results. Though I don't know why you couldn't just tell me what I was doing wrong in the first place." He was a bit sour about it.

She stuck her tongue out playfully since she didn't have an actual response. Law seemed to know it too; he sneered at her then looked back to the fast approaching naval ship that had clearly targeted the pirate ship.

There was a loud echoing boom when the military ship shot off canons at the smaller metal ship. Law just smiled and held out his hand, releasing the tell-tale ring of energy. "ROOM."

Once the sphere was open Law simply pointed to the enemy ship. "Tact."

At his command the projectiles stopped and shot back in reverse colliding with the wooden ship. Like fools, they shot off more canons only for the pirate to repeat the process and send them back once again. Arianna could hear the frightened screams of the Marine officers as their vessel blasted holes into itself. Finally they were smart enough to stop shooting at the Heart's submarine and instead came at them full speed. Law didn't let the reach the ship though. He created a well placed slash in the air that disconnected the ship's mast from the rest of the body. Then he looked behind him at practically the whole crew. Only Kai, Austin and Clyde were still inside. They were no longer on bed rest but they were still on restricted activity. "Marcus, Bepo. Would you two like to turn that ship away from us?"

They both smiled excitedly.

"Happily!" Bepo responded confidently.

Law held his hand out and with very loosely clenched fingers, two of which were extended more than the rest, turned his wrist. "Shambles."

The ship was now down two pirates and up two marines who were confused beyond belief. Arianna watched with amusement as her captain regarded the two men. "Hello."

One of the marines passed out right there while the other was whimpering with his hands high above his head. Arianna had to admit. Pure scare tactics may be a bit mean but they were highly entertaining. She turned back to the Navy ship that her two friends braved alone and saw that the bear had steered the it so that it was turning sideways, just missing the sub by a few yards, while Marcus covered him. She felt like he needed some more help though and it was going to take a minute for the rest of the crew to tether the two ships together and drop the metal boarding planks. It was certainly a lot of marines for those two to fight alone in that time. "Can I go too?"

"Sure. I'll put you next to Marcus." He really was in a good mood.

She smirked. "No thanks. I think he'd rather take care of himself."

Without waiting for Law to work his power, she ran across the deck and jumped. The few seconds she was moving through the air over the ocean wave was oddly peaceful for what was about to happen. She didn't quite make it to the opposite deck but she reached the base point for the netted ropes that go up to the crow's nest so that was good enough. She pulled herself up and slipped through one of the large square holes in the net, kicking a man directly in the face. Jumping into the mass of enemies like that really does give one a rush. Without missing a beat she pulled her two weapons and started slashing throats and stabbing chests and faces. There was no need to hold back with them like she does the merchants. These men could become a risk later down the road. Why let go the opponents that are easy to defeat now when that gives them a chance to grow stronger and come looking for revenge?

The men on the ship were all fairly weak and required minimal effort to kill. By the time she was probably around twenty kills in the rest of the crew made it to the navy ship. With almost the full force of the Heart Pirates on the ship the Marine unit was immediately overpowered. It was almost a shame how easy taking over the ship was, but now that they had what were they going to do? Law had said they don't have much space left for cargo, not that she expected a military ship to have much. Were they going to take the money on the ship and leave it as it is? That seems a bit wasteful.

While Law, Bepo and some of the more professional behaving members of the crew rummaged through the inside of the deck and cabin Arianna roamed around the deck top, searching for any survivors with her Sense. With this many dead even if someone was still alive they would probably die slowly since it would be impossible to sail the ridiculously large ship with any less than twenty people. There were none but she found that Shachi and Penguin were rushing back up to the deck, filled with excitement, while Law walked leisurely behind with a similar sense of happiness.

"Hey everyone! Our bounties all went up!" Penguin announced triumphantly.

"Here check them out!" Shachi shouted while holding up a bunch of pages.

The crew all gathered around and looked through the pieces of paper each searching for their own.

"How much did Captain's go up?" Thomas asked.

"55. He's up to 255,000,000 beri now." The red head said proudly.

"Awesome!" Newt cheered.

"Hey check it out! Ari-chan has a bounty now too!" Kalas said, holding up a piece of paper with her picture on it. She looked tired and had the stitches in her forehead in the picture. It must have been taken while she was looking around Vertwall just before the crew left.

A group of the men clustered around the wanted poster, Penguin pulling her in to look at it too. When she got a better look at it though she froze and she could only hear a muffled, hushed version of Shachi's voice reading the poster's information. "Yassun Leya Arianna. 'Little Beast'. Committed numerous counts of murder of government officers and assisting in the piracy of the Heart Pirates crew. Dead only?!"

"What!? Why are you dead only?!" Connor shouted.

"Ari-chan?" Oliver questioned.

She couldn't really hear much of what was being said. Everything was fuzzy. She pulled away from the questioning men and stumbled to the railing of the ship. Everything in her body was rejecting what it just heard. What she just saw.

Clutching the railing tightly, she felt nausea flood her and couldn't contain herself as she vomited up all of the contents in her stomach. It was quick and disgusting and she felt the hands and voices of her friends surrounding her, trying to discern what was wrong.

She didn't mean to but she flinch away from them. She shuffled herself to the planks that connected the ships. "Sorry guys. I need to go clean myself up."

Vomiting aside, she was covered in blood and it was currently providing the perfect excuse for getting away. And that's what she did. She ran, faintly hearing Law issue out orders for everyone to finish what they were doing so that they could return to their journey.

()

After raiding the Marine ship and Arianna's sudden episode Law was finally able to get around to taking a proper inventory of all the cargo they had stolen. Honestly, the rest of the afternoon passed without excitement. The whole crew was quietly curious about what made Arianna react the way she had to her wanted poster, and not so quietly about her dead only status. Unfortunately she wasn't making herself available for asking. She had been more or less hiding, locked up in her room. At dinner Law made it a point to ask Thomas if she had been to the galley. She had actually shown up to work her shift but was completely silent, flat out ignoring any questions regarding what had happened on the Marine ship. She didn't eat. Just worked and left.

While the doctor was certain her sickness was induced by something mental, not an actual illness, he did still feel compelled to check her. Just to be safe.

Conjuring up the same feeling that he had when he unintentionally opened his Haki he listened for the feeling of a voice like fiddles and a cello. He heard no fiddles, and with all of the other voices interfering with the same general feeling of concern and confusion, he couldn't even hear a general direction to where she is despite knowing her location. He tried to fine tune the voices but all he accomplished was losing the sense completely. He would still need to practice with it before it can be practically used.

He went back to his room and his eyes were immediately pulled to the pages on his desk. They were the bounty posters and the one on top was the girls. Why was she a dead only bounty? It couldn't have been a coincidence that this came after the CP8 attack.

He really needed to ask her what was going on. _*Better get to work then.* _He left his room and walked directly into Arianna's, not knocking or hesitating. She was laying on her side, curled up in a ball.

"Ready to talk?" He asked.

She didn't say anything. Just hummed.

"Alright then. Sit up like an adult."

She pushed herself up and leaned against the wall behind her bed.

"Do you know why you're posted as dead only?"

She shook her head slowly. She did not.

"Why'd you throw up over a wanted poster?"

"It wasn't the poster. It was the name." She was very quiet and he could barely hear her.

"Little Beast?" The girl visibly flinched when he said the name.

"I… E… He…" She tried to force out whatever it was that she wanted to say but was clearly having trouble. She couldn't get the words out.

Law understood. Sort of anyways. "That name isn't something new to you?"

"Yeah."

She didn't seem very capable of speaking on the matter anymore. "Do you still feel sick?"

She shook her head again.

"Do you need something to help you sleep?" He asked, remembering that Marcus said she was getting nightmares and the memories of when she would be out on deck late at night pulled up.

"No. Last time I used something to help me sleep the ship was attacked. Probably a sign that I shouldn't do that anymore."

_*She drugged herself that night? Now it all actually makes sense.*_

She mumbled something that into her arms that he could not hear.

"What?"

"I'll come up with something for tonight."

After the only slightly informative talk with Arianna, Law had decided that he needed his day to be over, so he went into his private bathroom to shower and when he came out wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt he laid in his bed on his back and slipped an arm beneath his pillow while his other hand rested comfortably on his chest. He was able to fall asleep easily.

When he awoke the next morning he found that he had rolled into something soft and warm. It took a great deal of effort on his part to not rant an endless string of curses at Arianna for sneaking into his bed at some point in the night. Instead he moved to sit up but found that his arm was currently anchored to the bed invader. Actually the way she was curled up not just against his body but also hugging his arm, not to mention opening his door, left him feeling slightly less angry and instead impressed. How had she not woken him?

When he tugged his arm a little her grip tightened slightly, not wanting to let go. Finished with his little wave of awe at her ability to sneak, Law lashed out his arm and threw her to the floor where she landed on her face and released a strange sound in alarm. "Ragh!"

She sat up and looked around her, bed-head curls whipping in all directions. When her eyes landed on Law she blushed slightly. "Morning."

_*Damn it. It's actually a little hard to be mad when she looks like that.* _He thought, begrudgingly.

"Why are you in here?" He said.

"I thought I would be awake and gone before you found out."

"That wasn't the question. Can't you at least pretend like you're sorry?" Law almost felt stupid for asking.

"Why?"

He sighed. It was too early for this. "Just go."

"Uh, sure." She stood and Law saw that she was wearing a t-shirt as well but with shorts and she left his bedroom.

Law groaned and fell back to the mattress. "We better reach an island soon… That girl needs a distraction that isn't me."

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**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`):**

**Katmm1: I think Law and Arianna have finally made it to a place in their relationship that lets them have a conversation and bicker with each other on equal footing. You got to see it more so in this chapter though.**

**Sarge1130: Even though he doesn't goof around with the crew like Luffy does I have no doubt Law is a selfless(ish) captain. Especially since he's the doctor too, it seems like he puts a lot of responsibility on himself so I wanted to show how I think he handles all of it. I kind of imagine Law's face at the respect kiss was something like when he realized he was getting pulled into the Straw Hat crew's pace just before Dressrosa but not as strong. I think Arianna and Kalas would provide some seriously comedic scenes if I put them together more. They're both borderline cartoonish when playing around.  
Of course Arianna found a way to call Law by his name all she wants. She disliked using titles since the beginning ;)**


	24. Chapter 24

**I forgot to let everyone know that the edits being made to the previous chapters are not going to be affecting the plot of the story or anything like that so don't worry. The only change that is relevant to anyone who has been reading is that I realized that I was using dollars as a reference for how much a beri is worth even though its real world equivalent would be yen so I change it. I didn't want to make another change like that but the bounty rewards compared to all the other money references wouldn't make any real sense other wise. Sorry guys...**

* * *

**Chapter 24**

Arianna stared at the cards in her hand with a deep focus. After a few loud complaints from the boys about only being able to play one type of card game when she's around she agreed to them teaching her a new one, on the agreement that it would be a game that doesn't require she keep a straight face. If they're going to teach her a new game she wants it to be one she has a chance of winning. The decided card game was Hearts.

She seemed to be fairly good at the game, she had the most cards out of everyone in her pile, even so… she didn't want to get too cocky and was determined to play it safe to maintain her lead.

They went through another round and this time Oliver won the hand. _*Dang.*_

Another round… She won the hand. _*Yes!*_

It was the last round and she knew there was no way she could lose now, it was simply a matter of playing through the last hand. She had been saving her last card for this too, the queen of spades.

When she place the card down and saw that she won not just the hand but also the whole game she couldn't contain herself. She cheered as she threw her pile of winning cards into the air. "Yay! I finally won something! Vehymmo!" ("Finally!")

The boys all looked at her with pity. "Who wants to tell her?" Marcus asked.

"I got this." Connor volunteered. "Hey, Half-Pint!"

She stopped her cheering and looked at him with curiosity.

"You didn't win."

"Huh?"

"Yeah… You actually lost horribly." Penguin informed her.

She puffed out her face slightly. "I know you're used to winning but you shouldn't be such a sore loser Penguin."

"You're being a horrible winner." Shachi accussed.

She stuck her tongue out at the red head.

"Ari-chan…" Oliver started calmly. "You won most of the hands but that's not the goal of the game. You want the least amount of penalties and each card under the heart suit is a penalty card."

Arianna froze.

"So is the queen of spades." Penguin added.

She thought through all of the cards in her pile. A majority of them were hearts and she won the queen on the last hand. Her face started to get warmer and warmer by the second. She did lose. Horribly.

Slowly, she slid herself into the corner. "…Sorry."

"No worries. It's a tricky game to get the hang of." Shachi said as he started shuffling the cards for another match.

After giving herself a few seconds to sulk, the girl took her spot next to Oliver and Marcus and waited for the cards to all be passed out. There seemed to be a slightly uncomfortable silence and little glances through the room instead of the mindless chatter that usually passed among the group. Arianna tried to pretend like she didn't notice but it was getting difficult. There was obviously something that they wanted to say and if it was all of them than it was definitely about the wanted poster but none of them had the guts or the insensitivity to ask. She was relieved at that initially but this was getting uncomfortable. When Connor glanced over as covertly as he probably could she took it as an opening to put an end to it all. "If you guys have something to say then go for it."

They all flinched and looked into every direction of the room that did not include the girl. She crossed her arms and looked across them all with half-lidded eyes. "Really? No one?"

Shachi flinched and seemed to tremble a little. If she was going to break someone it will be him; and they think _she_ has a bad poker face. She crawled across the floor and got right into his face, her expression never changing. "Say it. Now."

His face turned redder and redder until he finally popped. "What's the deal with your poster?! Why are you dead only?"

There was a chorus of disappointment from the boys around them. Connor's words were the clearest of all. "C'mon man! The whole crew agreed to not to say anything!"

Arianna leaned back onto her knees to turn her torso towards him. "Seriously? The whole crew?"

"No one wants you to freak out like that again so we all got together and decided to not say anything to you about it." Oliver informed her.

She frowned but there was a slight shade of pink to her cheeks. Her new Family could be incredibly sweet. "Okay… Look, I don't really know why I'm dead only and I _really _don't want to talk about why it upsets me but you guys don't have to pretend like none of it happened."

There was a sigh from behind her. It was Marcus. "You know… You can't spend your whole life avoiding talking about the hard stuff. Eventually you'll have to tell us."

She closed her eyes and rubbed the side of her neck in discomfort. "I tried to explain it to Law, only… I couldn't get the words out. They just kept getting caught in my throat."

When no reply came she opened her eyes to look at her friends. They were all looking at her like she was some puppy with a broken leg. It kind of made her feel pitiful. "I don't want you guys to feel bad about this. Everything is better when we're happy. Now, are we playing cards or not?"

"Oh. Uh… Yeah." Shachi said awkwardly, looking back at the forgotten deck of cards in his hands.

After everything, sort of, was out in the open the atmosphere started to lighten up and the men shouting curses when someone used a heart card to intentionally screw someone else over most definitely helped ease everything back to normal. Arianna had done much better this time around too. She even managed to not come in last place.

The group was starting to get seriously into their game, to the point that with the exception of Oliver there was a dangerous aura that surrounded them all every round as they wait to see who will be the bastard that's pulls a heart card, completely ignoring the fact that it was an inevitable part of the deck. When the door was swung open by Austin he flinched back and went pale at the intense energy that was surging in the room. When all the focused eyes turned to him he nearly backed out completely. "Uh… We're coming up on an island." He managed to say.

The mention of land seemed to turn the black, fiery auras into flowers and bubbles as the group practically piled on top of each other to get closer to Austin. "Really?!"

He started to sweat, uncertain on how to take this. "Y-yeah…"

"You're going to want to move." Oliver said from his spot at the other side of the room, having had stayed clear of the rest.

Austin obeyed the warning not a moment too soon as he was nearly bulldozed over by the five pirates rushing the door and out the hall.

Connor, Shachi and Penguin all did their best to shove past each other while Arianna jumped on to Marcus' back, knocked him to the ground and used him to jump over the boys and race ahead. She reached the deck first of their group and saw that most of the crew, incluiding Law, was out there. She rushed across the floor and threw herself onto the balcony with a huge grin. She heard her friends enter the deck, having been signaled by Marcus' string of complaints at her jumping on him and teases about a footprint in between his shoulder blades.

The island wasn't very far away and there were plenty of details in view of the island. Somehow it tickled a memory that made her excited. It was another city, like so many others before, but she couldn't detect any sense of forests or nature there. It was disappointing but land would be good for everyone's spirits, and get their minds off of feeling pity for her. She turned to look at the captain not too far from her. "Hey, Law. Any clue on what we're going to do when we dock?"

"Don't jump ahead. I'll give everyone their assignments when we're stopped like normal." He answered.

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously. I meant after that."

He didn't immediately answer so she took that as him thinking on it. "Let's see what type of city it is first."

"I know what I want to do first chance I get." Shachi said shamelessly, earning more nods of approval than she felt comfortable with. She got it, Worlders are loose about who they sleep with. Fine, she can accept that. She just wished they could be a bit more private about it. _*At least these guys don't actually _do _anything out in the open.* _She thought with mild relief. She had done a lot of traveling on her own prior to joining the Hearts and she had been to some incredibly _uncomfortable _places thanks to the shadier-the-bar-the-better-the-information pattern. The pure assault on her senses that was what she had heard a friend call the "Adult District" was nightmare inducing. Looking away is easy but she can't deafen her ears or hold her breath forever. She turned a little green when the phantom smell brought by her memories filled her nose. "Ugh…"

She rubbed her face and smashed her cheeks to push the thought out. The girl turned at the feeling of eyes on her and saw Law looking at her with an expression of utter confusion. She was about to tell him that he didn't want to know but remembered that day when she had stolen his hat and inevitably eavesdropped on the lunch time conversation. Law had talked about how he took some random woman back to his hotel without being bothered to get a name. _*Maybe he does want to hear.*_

Not wanting to say what had invaded her mind, she opened with a question that should deter him. "Curious about something?"

He looked away and blanked out his expression when he was called out on his intrigue. "Not really."

"That's good. I didn't really want to tell you anyways." She looked back towards to island with a smile of relief.

She felt something come up behind her. When the girl looked up Law was standing above her looking down. "In that case say it."

Her eyes went uncomfortably wide and her mouth pulled out into a frown. She had to have been bright red by now. "Uhh…"

He smiled at her obvious discomfort. "Say it." He demanded.

She looked away, back at the island, in hopes that it would help her escape. It was closer now and more details to it were becoming obvious. There were dozens of ships anchored around the island and inland there was a giant structure that looked like a cylinder on stilts with some small looking things coming out of it and attaching to a nearby building. She shot to her feet, making Law stumble backwards a step, and made an excited announcement. "I KNOW THIS ISLAND!"

"Really?! What's it like?" Kalas rushed over and asked.

"It's a lot of fun. You guys will definitely like it." She said loud enough for everyone on deck to hear without her yelling at the top of her lungs again. It was a fun island in her memories: lots of people, plenty to do, good food to eat. It was actually one of the few islands that she went to where she lived completely on bought meals. Unfortunatly it was also where that very uncomfortable memory came from. She probably thought of it because she was looking at the island. _*…Yeah. They'll definitely like it here.* _

()

After Arianna announced that she had been to the island previously the whole crew began chattering like a bunch of birds. Law looked down at her as she denied her begging friends details of the activities that they will find on the island. "Hey you." He said bluntly.

A pair of green eyes looked up at him and Connor tapped Kalas' shoulder, motioning that they should go.

"What makes you so certain we'll like this place? What you consider fun doesn't quite match up to what anyone else calls fun."

She giggled slightly. "I _do_ enjoy some of the same things as everyone else you know. Actually the island had a huge number of pirate crews that stuck around longer than they needed to for the log posts to set. A friend of mine who lives here said that most of the money that goes through the island is from pirates. I think he called them the 'target customers' or something like that."

_*It's an island that prospers off of piracy?* _He sighed and sat down. "That's not necessarily a good thing."

"Huh? Why?" She looked at him with large curious eyes.

"If pirates are the primary customers to the island than they receive a lot of goods that comes from merchant ships that pass through the surrounding areas. When that happens the value of those goods decreases. A constant inflow of outsiders also gives way for business' to charge for higher profits." He explained.

She stayed quiet, looking like she was thinking on his words. He dumbed it down a bit. "We won't get paid as much for the stuff we've been looting and it will cost more to be on the island."

Arianna blinked and looked a bit surprised then tried and failed to contain giggling. "Law I'm not that stupid. Why would anybody pay the same amount for a fish just off their coast as a fish from the other side of the world, right?"

The accuracy of her rhetoric was a bit surprising.

"I was just thinking about what might be a good way for you to get as much as you can for everything."

That was even more surprising. "What could _you _do to influence that exactly?"

She crossed her arms and legs, a long hum rumbled through her while she looked up. "I know someone who would probably be willing to buy from you for special prices, or at least able to tell me exactly who would be the best person for you to do business with. I just hope he wasn't arrested since I left."

"_You_? You know someone like that?" He asked, doubting.

She looked playfully insulted, wearing a smirk that made her look like she was born to be a Heart Pirate. "Why would that be so surprising? My illegal activities didn't start with the crew."

Law returned the expression with a crooked smile. "Alright. Where will we find this man, if he's still in business?"

He really did need to know, they were coming up on the pirate ship filled docks. "It's still early afternoon so… He's probably out on the docks looking for new customers!"

"Perfect." He said as he stood. This is easily the most useful Arianna has ever been to him outside of subjects of a violent nature.

Bepo steered the ship into an open space and the two navigators traveled back up to the deck. The whole crew stood at attention, awaiting for their orders, anticipating the signal to move out onto the new land. They were going to have to feel temporarily disappointed. "No one is leaving the ship yet."

"WAAH!?" Just shy of Jean Bart, though he did look on with obvious shock and disappointment, every member of the crew shouted in disbelief.

"I want everyone to begin bringing up the cargo. Since Arianna is familiar with the island she is going to come with me to find someone who will buy it off us before we leave to restock."

He waited for the crew to grumble. "If everyone understands then get started."

It was slow but everyone eventually started filing into the ship except for the girl who stood and waited at his side. "Everyone is upset."

"Yeah. That's what happens when a crew is given an order they don't want to follow. A good crew will do as told though." He said nonchalantly as he turned and walked off of the ship.

Arianna followed without hesitating a second. "Wouldn't a good captain give orders that keep the crew happy?"

"What's best isn't always what's pleasant."

As the pair walked through the crowded port the girl stretched her arms up with interlocked fingers then dropped her hands to her sides.

"Where is this merchant?" He looked down at her as he asked.

"Um…" She looked around herself then skirted away from him and jumped on top of a pile of crates to get a higher vantage point and scanned the area. "Oh! I think I see him!"

She leapt down and rushed past Law, once again grabbing his hand as she did to lead him where she wished to go. It made him frown. "Still haven't learned your lesson I see."

She looked at him, never stopping but also never colliding with the other people who were not paying attention to their surroundings. It seemed to take her a few seconds before to understand what he was referring to. "Fine." She said as she let go.

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean 'sorry'?"

"But I'm not." She said bluntly.

*_Weird girl…_* Law commented internally.

Her pace picked up when they came into sight of a man in a bright blue jacket with yellow trousers and a top hat with a yellow sash that tied in the back and the excess draped down to his shoulders. Behind him, standing menacingly in black trousers held up by suspenders over a white shirt was a man that was nearly the size of Bart.

Without a moment of hesitation Arianna jumped into the smaller of the two so hard he nearly toppled over. "Ryder!"

"Boss!" The large man shouted and yanked Arianna off and held her in the air, other fist ready to punch her.

"Hey!" Law yelled and readied his sword to be pulled to prevent the situation from escalating any further.

The man in the top hat, Ryder apparently, recovered and looked at Law then his attacker. When he saw who it was he smiled brightly. "Is that my darling little Leya?!"

"Hi Ryder!" She said, completely relaxed in the large man's grasp.

"Honestly now, John. Put her down before she hurts you."

The bodyguard seemed confused but did as he was told and dropped the girl. When her feet touched the ground Ryder removed his hat and bowed to kiss the back of her hand. "You found your way back here faster than I imagined, Darling."

She scratched her cheek, seemingly embarrassed. "I'm not on my own anymore."

Ryder stood up straight and put his hat back on with a bit of a flourish. "I saw. Your poster is rather flattering." He looked over at Law, who had been watching the situation with a measure of interest. "If the pictures are to be believed you are Trafalgar Law correct? Michelson Ryder. It's an honor to meet you." He offered a hand so Law shook it.

"Arianna said you might be willing to buy off our cargo at a decent price. Is it true?" This man may be the girl's friend but to Law he was simply a possible merchant.

"All business I see. I'm usually not in the charity line of work but…" He looked over at the girl. She was looking at him with big pleading eyes. "I suppose for this little darling it's the least I could do."

"Yay!" She celebrated like she really succeeded in something.

The brightly colored man sighed. "Before you get too excited I may not be able to purchase everything."

"But…" Arianna goaded on.

"…But I do know of some business men who are in the perfect place in finance and reputation to be buying small amounts of goods for higher prices than the majority." He admitted, never dropping the salesman smile that he had been wearing since Law spoke.

"Perfect." The pirate captain said.

"John, go to our nearest wear house and bring a cart along with my box."

He seemed to hesitate, glancing untrustingly at the pirate. "But…"

The business man waved his hand. "Oh don't worry about a thing. Ms. Leya here is more than capable of keeping me safe should something happen. What does your ship look like?"

"It's the yellow submarine. Dock sight 15." Law told them.

"You heard the man. Let's get moving." He said, apparently dismissing the guard and walked in the proper direction to reach the ship. Arianna stepped beside him and tangled her hands around his elbow, which had been extended as if to escort her.

Law looked on for a second. *_She really is too clingy to everyone._*He thought slightly sour. She has no idea of personal space and it was probably because of people like this man who apparently encouraged it. He wasn't sure how but she's definitely gotten worse the past few weeks.

He sighed, knowing that saying anything on it would do nothing and instead walked on Ryder's other side so they could start talking business. He listed the materials and goods that they had and the merchant gave him a range of possible prices he could offer for each, depending on the quality. It was all the boring stuff that even he hated dealing with. It was highly tempting to delegate merchant dealings to Bart, he was confident that the former captain would be more than capable of handling such things, but since all the decisions would have to be run by him anyways it's just faster to take care of it himself.

When they reached the ship maybe about half of cargo was already brought up onto deck and it was looking a bit crowded. "Oh! Captain's back!" Bepo announced.

Everyone more or less stopped what they were doing to welcome him and Arianna back. "Keep bringing everything up so we can unload all of the cargo as soon as possible." Law reminded his crew.

"Now then, let's take a look." Ryder said, seemingly more to himself as he opened up a crate to view the contents.

Law stood off to the side against the railing while Arianna jumped up and sat on the metal next to him. Bepo joined them and looked at the girl. "So, this guy is one of your friends?"

"Yeah! He runs a lot of fun places in town. He's sort of everybody's friends that way." She said, smiling.

"Certainly seemed like more than that." Law said in fairly neutral tone.

"Huh?!" The girl seemed confused while Bepo was completely shocked.

"How so?" She questioned.

"Just how clueless are you capable of being, 'Darling'?" He teased, causing Bepo to ooh with a slight blush.

She laughed a bit. "What? You use nicknames for people."

"Nothing like that." Law rebutted. She just shrugged it off.

Ryder approached them. "This is most of your cargo, correct? I'd say I can buy off what you have up here now but I'll have to direct you to someone else for the rest."

Law crossed his arms but otherwise never moved from his reclined position. "Fine. How much are you offering?"

"157,695 beri."

Law groaned. "That's not much."

"It's more than you'd get from anyone else." He said coolly.

"I'm just supposed to trust that?" The captain challenged.

The merchant gestured back to the port. "There are plenty of merchants looking for customers. Feel free to compare."

Law kept eye contact with the man. "Bepo, go ask three other merchants on the port what they would pay."

"Yes Captain!" He said obediently and rushed off of the ship.

Ryder looked over at Arianna. "Is he usually so distrusting?"

Law locked eyes with her, waiting for her response. She smiled playfully. "Always. Especially when things are easy."

Law scoffed a bit and looked away. "I'm cautious. Nothing should ever be expected to be easy for a pirate."

She giggles and swayed side to side, one of her pigtails grazing Law each time. "It took him forever to trust me."

"Do you really want to bring that up?" He challenged.

"Uhhh… Nope." She used that as a cue to get away from Law and pushed off of the railing to go and sit on one of the crates, the outsider followed and the two began talking. It mostly sounded like Ryder asking her what she had been doing since leaving the island.

Marcus joined Law. "I'm not liking this guy."

"Me either. But if he serves his purpose then that's all that matters." Even as the two men spoke they continued to watch Arianna as she told the colorfully dressed man some story, complete with very animated expressions and waving arms.

"How much money are we still going to be short if we take this guys offer?"

Law sighed as he did a quick calculation. "8,372,021 beri."

When he spoke, Arianna's eyes flicked to him for about half a second before returning their full focus on her friend. *_Hm?_* The glance seemed unexpected to the captain but she had long ago proved that it was impossible to have a private conversation within earshot of the girl, and the distance of which it encompasses was still undetermined.

While they waited a large wooden cart being pulled by a large, well-bred looking work horse stopped in front of the ship but Ryder motioned the four men on it to remain where they are. It wasn't much longer after that that Bepo returned to the ship. "Captain!~"

"What's the result?" Law asked.

"The highest offer I got was only 95,066 beri." He said sadly.

"That's a huge difference." Marcus grumbled, apparently hoping that they wouldn't have to do business with Ryder.

The business man smiled smugly at the pirate captain, who held in a low groan. "Fine. We have a deal."

He raised his hand up to shoulder level in a rather showy way as he spoke. "Excellent. Gentlemen, begin loading everything up!"

At his command the four large workers boarded the ship and began taking the crates. Ryder then turned back to Law. "While we're at it would you like to order a list of supplies for me to have sent here? Discounted of course."

It was a regrettably tempting offer. "No. My men and I would prefer to pick what we need individually ourselves."

He shrugged the refusal off as he was handed a box. "Understandable."

The man opened the box and started counting then promptly held out the payment for Law. He took it and split it in half, they'll sure to be spending much of it trying to restock. While the strangers took all the things that were no longer the Heart Pirates, the captain stood and addressed his crew. "Shachi, Thomas, get whomever you want and let's go. Everyone else needs to stay. There plenty of other crews around so be on alert."

"Yes!" Even though they responded normally there was an obvious lack of enthusiasm to do so. Maybe he _should_ do something for the crew…

It wasn't until early evening that the entirety of the Heart Pirates had returned to the ship. He was right, the prices were higher on this island than many of the other ones he had been to. The thought of what the men were going to do when he releases them to run free through the town worried him but they deserved it. He waited on the deck for the remainder of the crew to return to deck from inside the ship before making the announcement. "Alright everyone! All of you are free to go into town. Bepo and I will stay on the ship for the night so just make sure you come back tomorrow."

The overwhelmingly happy outburst that rang through the men was all he needed to know that chances were, many of them really won't be coming back to the ship until tomorrow. Some ran inside to collect some stuff will other just ran straight off the ship without hesitation. They really had been cooped up for a while.

Arianna was the last person to reemerge from the ship, a leather bundle larger than her strapped to her back. Halfway across the deck she stopped, though she seemed very conflicted about it. "Do you want me to stick around a little longer?"

Law leaned comfortably against the wall and waved the offer off. "No, go on. Just don't get involved with a civil war this time."

She smiled sheepishly. "I'll try not to. Bye Law. Bye Bepo."

With that she was off the ship and running across the port.

"What are the chances that she'll stay out of trouble?" Bepo asked.

"Virtually zero." Law answered.

"Yeah… What now?"

He sighed. "Now? We take care of these fools then go eat dinner."

Apparently thinking they were going to catch the pirates off guard, some men had been climbing up the sides of the ship from the water and finally made it to the deck. About thirty in total and all of them were armed with a random assortment of weapons. Law held out his hand with a sneer and he could hear Bepo hum excitedly. "ROOM."

()

Within minutes of leaving the ship Marcus and some of his friends were able to find their way to the tourist part of the island rather than the market. The people of this island was so outsider friendly they had signs and large maps posted at the port, many street corners and just in what seemed to be fairly random places that directed people to market areas, bars, restaurants, hotels and then there were some unexpected locations listed on the directories: line, club, house, center, theater, library and spa.

Shachi and Penguin read that and immediately darted to the street that had a string of locations marked "house", their instincts telling them that's exactly where they want to be. Marcus wasn't quite in the mood for that himself, preferring to go get a drink, if for nothing else but to ask about the strange locations on the maps. The bars themselves were rather strange though. They were completely open, all had a wall missing from the buildings, making them look like rectangular caves rather than bars. The names of the individual business' were on signs hanging in various ways.

He choose to enter one that looked relatively large and well maintained: The Ripper's House.

_*How classy…* _Marcus thought sarcastically. Just because the island was practically pirate central doesn't mean they had no sense of civility. Up close to the interior seemed oddly well kept and clean for the name and expected patrons. There was already about twenty people seated and drinking despite it still being early evening. He sat down at the counter and motioned for the man behind it to come over. He finished what he was doing and walked to the pirate with a relaxed smile. "How can I help you?"

"Could I just get a water for now?" He didn't particularly feel like drinking just yet.

He caught the way the bartender flashed a look of slightly amused disbelief at the pirate for coming to a bar and asking for water, but there was no comment so he let it go, though he couldn't help size the man up. The bartender had dark red hair that made Marcus think of blood and he noticed a cigarette tucked behind his ear. He was wearing a black shirt that fit his torso snuggly and dark jeans, clearly showing that had broad shoulders and well-muscled arms and chest; judging from the visible serrated anterior muscles and slightly discolored knuckles, he has thrown a lot of punches. He filled a cup with water and handed it to him, then pointed to a large sign above the shelving behind the bar. '**All violence is prohibited. All fights will be ****ended ****by the staff.**' It was both an explaination to what Marcus' apparently obvious analysis of him revealed and a warning.

"Haven't seen you around yet. I take it your crew just got here?"

"Yeah."

The man behind the bar reached out his hand. "M'name's Jack."

The pirate took it. "Marcus."

"So, what do you think of our town so far Marcus?"

It was an invitation to ask questions about the island. That sure makes it easier. "I was wondering… What's up with the weird locations on the street maps?"

"Could you get a bit more specific?" He asked, crossing his arms and leaning back.

"Club, House, Line…" He listed some of them, expecting the bartender to figure out the rest.

"Can't just advertise some of the less then legal activity sights. The Marines are more than aware of them and enjoy them as well but the island has an agreement that we won't outright list what they are and the officers that come here won't report the activities." The man glanced to the other end of the bar and walked that way. "Hold up."

He refilled the glasses of the couple men that way and returned to Marcus with a pen and paper. Jack leaned on the counter in front of him and started writing out the list of locations that had been indicated on the map. "Right… Lines are the gathering places for where the races start. A few times a day one of the many business men on this island will bring out a bunch of horses and anyone willing to pay their price can borrow one and race through the city, so watch out people get run down everyday. Centers are gambling houses; dice, cards, lotteries, and a bunch of other things. There's even a video snail in some of them projecting whatever was deemed worth betting on. Houses are whore houses. Thearter, library and spa are actually all exactly what they sound like though. Plenty of people come and go who would prefer to just do something relaxing rather than run wild after all."

Marcus was a bit surprised at the organization of the activites. "I heard there's a lot to do on this island but that's ridiculous. No wonder you guys are constantly overrun with pirate crews."

The man tilted his head and gave a crooked smile. "We're not an island of pussies that are being walked on by your kind. Plus we're adaptable. You saw how all of the bars are missing a wall, right? It's to accomadate the regular outbreaks of fights by drunk criminals. That way they can be sent out onto the street where they belong without damaging the building."

"Smart." Marcus said with an approving nod as he lifted his glass of water.

The bartender looked over him and shouted. "You're late Ted."

Another, larger man rushed to the end of the bar counter and went through the opening to get behind it. "Sorry boss!"

"When your shift's over you get bathroom cleanup to make up the time." The red haired man said as he walked around and out from behind the counter. He stood next to Marcus for a moment and looked at his clothes, probably trying to identify the Jolly Roger. He smiled happily then. "This guys water and first beer is free."

Marcus became curious about the sudden generosity. "Why?"

Jack's smile never changed but his amber eyes did narrow then he left the boundry of the buildings floor and walls. The moment he was out of the room he placed his cigarette into his mouth and lit it as he made his way down the street and out of sight.

"Would you like your beer?"

"Sure."

When he was handed the drink he considered what he could do next. "Know where the nearest race is?"

()

Oliver and Connor weren't quite sure as to where they wanted to go, so for the moment they were just wandering through the city. "It's weird that we've run into so many big cities lately. It kind of makes me miss the little islands." Connor commented.

His companion laughed. "Yeah. Maybe Arianna is some kind of charm for it."

"Huh… Yeah… I guess it did start when we picked her up." Apparently Connor didn't notice that correlation. It made the blond heave a small sigh like laugh.

"Oliver? Are okay?"

Oliver looked at him now. There was concern clear in his eyes. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well… You took a bad hit before. If you're not feeling at your best we could find somewhere to just take it easy."

"Wait. Are you still talking about the fight against CP8? That was over a month ago!"

Connor didn't say anything; he just looked away. It was the same as saying yes and they both knew it.

Oliver's features hardened in anger and he started walking faster and further away. "Ollie-"

"Don't 'Ollie' me. You treat me like a fragile kitten and it's seriously pissing me off." Connor tried to call after him but was cut off by the harsh words. Oliver wasn't one to resort to cursing often, regardless to how weak of a curse it was.

"You may not be fragile but you're not as strong as the rest of us." As soon as he said it, Connor knew he screwed up. "W-wait! That's not wh-"

"Connor…" Oliver stopped his words when he put his hand on the stuttering mans cheek like he was going to caress him. Instead he took his other hand and jabbed a nerve in his neck that sent the mechanic to the ground with a loud yelp.

With the man on the ground Oliver walked away slightly pleased that he punished his boyfriend for the thoughtless words. Of course he knew that Connor was trying to say that unlike the rest of the crew Oliver did not have a long history of violence and fighting, which also meant that he didn't have as much experience of getting badly injured as the rest. But that doesn't mean he can get away with saying it like that. "Jerk…" He grumbled.

He didn't know where to go, didn't know the island well enough to make that kind of decision, so he started turning back to the ship. Exploring wouldn't be any fun with his current mood, so why waste the energy? Wanting to do anything to avoid going past Connor on his way back, Oliver walked through a few side streets rather than taking a direct route. About three streets in he saw something that intrigued him; a group of three men entered a through a side door of a rundown looking building with high boarded up windows. The city was flourishing and well maintained so that there was an abandoned building that seemed neglected for as long as this one was strange. He approached the door, apprehensive about whether he really wanted to see what was happening in there but before he was even two meter from it he could hear a collective sound of cheers and claps. _*Was it some sort of entertainment?*_

He opened the door and walked in, trying his best to look like he belonged. There was a man next to the door but he didn't make any move to stop the pirate, he just watched him as he entered then returned to picking at his finger nails. Since it was going smoothly, Oliver continued on forward to the large ring of people that were in the center of the empty building. There was a constant cheering and roaring from the crowd that Oliver had to push through to see what the excitement was about. In the center of the ring of spectators were two men, bloodied, bruised and trying their best to hurt the other. The blond pirate had wandered his way into a fight club.

He almost turned to wander his way back out. Oliver was a medical professional. He spent most of his life learning how to alleviate pain from others. A brutish display like this, for the sake of entertainment, was the antithesis of what he does. At the sound of a particularly hard punch and a collective groan from the crowd he froze in place and continued to look on. The men were both still standing and eager to continue their relentless assault on one another. He was disgusted with it all but he couldn't take his eyes off of them. _*__They seem oblivious to the crowd and going past the point where they should have stopped if it was just for something as petty as recognition.* _

He realized they weren't fighting for anyone's entertainment. They were fighting because they wanted to; because they were strong and they wanted to show it. "I want to show it." Oliver said to himself.

"What was that?" A man next to him said.

Oliver looked at him, his blue eyes burning. "How do I get into a fight?"

The man smirked. "Fresh meat, huh? Just volunteer when this is finished."

He didn't like the way the man referred to him but couldn't stop himself from saying thank you anyways. This obviously was not the kind of place where manners meant anything. On the contrary, that he was polite might actually make him seem out of place. Sometimes he really wished he could control his mannerisms.

He looked back at the fight and tried to pretend that he hadn't interacted with the stranger at all. The two men were beyond exhausted and looked so unstable on their feet that they could be pushed over by a child but they withstood the others attacks until one well thrown left hook caught the others' jaw and he went down with no signs of being conscious. The stranger that had spoken to Oliver entered the circle and held the wrist of the standing man up. "We have our victor!"

Said victor had to be half carried out of the ring of people while the loser was dragged haphazardly across the floor out of the circle and towards a pile of other passed out men. Needless to say, he was greatly regretting his inquiry about entering a fight, especially since he had apparently asked the proprietor of them. His mind was racing and it conjured up the voice of the person that he was most angry with now. The voice of Connor, telling him he wasn't as strong as the rest of the crew. None of them would bat an eye at the bloodied and limp bodies of fighters. If anything it would probably get them excited. He was a Heart Pirate but he always seems to find himself acting like a queasy coward in situation that weren't life or death.

He heard the invitation now. "What crazy souls wish to partake in our next fight?"

Oliver stepped forward, eager to get everything going before he had enough time to regret being here and back out. Taking a place beside the announcer, the pirate waited what felt like hours for his opponent to step forward. What was actually only four seconds after him, a burly man a good head and a half taller and twice as muscular as Oliver stepped up.

"Alright! For the sake of our new fighter here I'll state the rules. No weapons and the fight isn't over until someone is put to sleep!"

That pang of regret was forming in Oliver's gut again and he looked toward the ray of light that shown through as the door that he came through opened and shut again. He could only wish that someone had the good sense to leave this place seeing as he apparently didn't.

"Okay gentlemen. FIGHT!"

Almost immediately Oliver's opponent stepped forward with a hook and the pirate ducked it but his face was immediately met with a foot. He stumbled back a little but forced himself to recover and protect his face and body from another strike. Whoever this guy was he was very used to fighting and there was a lot of explosive power to his strikes. _*Not good…*_

He can't even remember why he was doing this now. If he fights back he can't simply beat this guy up. For better or worse, when Oliver fights he either gets beaten or he (usually temporarily) cripples his opponent, there was no middle ground. It was just the nature of his style. Now he was faced with a delima. Does he fight back and seriously hurt this stranger that isn't doing anything Oliver didn't agree to the moment he volunteered for a fight, or does he take his beating and join the limp bodies of the losers in the corner?

He was still undecided so he slipped his way out of the burly man's reach and put some distance between them; as much as he could in the tiny circle of people anyways. He watched his opponent, analyzing his steps, readying how he was going to have to move to get away from another strike. But his focus didn't hold.

"OLLIE!"

He scanned the crowd until he saw a man with shaggy black hair and a white boiler suit behind his opponent. Connor watched what was happening with horror and the distraction nearly cost him the fight as he sidestepped a punch that connected to a woman behind him and knocked her to the floor. Oliver refocused his eyes on his opponent but he couldn't stop them from glancing to the other pirate who followed along as the two fighters moved around the circle, always making certain that he was behind Oliver's opponent so that he would always be in the blonde's line of sight.

The burly man loomed over the pirate and there was no obvious way for Oliver to slip his strikes so he had to take a counter position, jabbing at the larger fighter's wrists to redirect the attacks and punched him in the face to at least slow him down enough for Oliver to get out of his trapped space and back towards the more open center of the circle. As he rushed forward he made eye contact with Connor. The look of horror was gone and instead there was a serious look of understanding. Connor pointed to the left side of his chest, at the Heart Pirates jolly roger. Oliver was ashamed that it took him a full second to understand. No matter what he was a Heart Pirate. That he even considered anything other than putting this man down was a disrespect to his entire crew and worse, his Captain.

Ready to stop scurrying around like a spineless worm, Oliver turned to face his opponent. The man looked pissed off and seemed like he wanted nothing more than to rip the blond apart. "Stop running away you little bitch!"

"Alright." Oliver said calmly and rather than even try to look like he was going to attempt to avoid the right hook, he waited until it was thrown then stepped into the man while turning himself to face the extended arm. He locked the forearm in his outside elbow then punched straight up into the side of the man's elbow, bending it in a sickening angle. At the strike the entire audience audibly gasped and the man screamed. Now that his lead arm was out of the way there were quite a few points that were now going to be impossible to adequately protect so Oliver exploited them. Striking several nerve endings through his neck and leg to cripple him with pain then he pushed on the carotid artery in the man's neck. He was too pained to try and fight back, allowing the medic to put him to sleep without any resistance.

The announcer didn't step forward and unlike before there were no sounds of excitement from the people, just stunned silence. No matter what though, it was his win so he turned to Connor who was beaming with pride. "Want to go?"

"Yeah." The dark haired man pushed the crowd apart, allowing the pirates to leave the building. It wasn't until they were a few streets away that Connor finally turned back to Oliver, still smiling proudly.

"That was awesome! Did you see the way everyone looked? You'd think they just saw a mouse kill a tiger!"

His excitement was a bit intoxicating; it made it impossible for Oliver to not smile and chuckle with him. "That's probably what it looked like to them."

Their amusement seemed to feed endlessly on each other's until they stood there, in the middle of the street laughing like two idiots and earning more than a few strange stares. When they finally started to catch their breaths Connor looked at Oliver and point to his own cheek. "You should get some ice on that."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Do you have any more expert advice for me?"

Connor got a self-conscious smile on his face. "R-right… Sorry."

He sighed. "You found me pretty quickly."

"Oh, yeah. I didn't want to leave things like that so I decided to go after you and I just kind of had to think 'what would Oliver do' and came up with go back to the ship but you would take detours so that you could avoid me. Then when I heard all the noise from in the building I figured you would have gone in out of curiosity. Though I didn't think you'd want to fight."

The way that Connor knew him and how'd he think made Oliver blush a little. In a weird way, it made him feel important. But it didn't distract from the reminder that he was mad at his boyfriend at the moment. "Like I said, I'm not fragile."

Connor put his hands together and dropped his head. "I'm sorry for that. I really _didn't _mean it the way I said it. I just meant that you haven't had to deal with as many injuries as the rest of us but it's definitely not a bad thing! I can guarantee you that the rest of the crew is jealous of you for it. I _know_ I am!"

"The rest of the crew wouldn't have had an internal debate on whether they should hurt a total stranger that didn't do anything wrong or take the beating…" Oliver said a bit ashamed.

The dark haired man suddenly planted a kiss on his uninjured cheek. It was a little peck that was over just a little too quickly. Connor looked at him with a smile that was almost innocent looking. "I like that you're like that. It just goes to show that you're the only decent human being on the crew. Now, let's get your face taken care of."

"You know… The only people on the ship are Captain and Bepo and they'd probably want to just relax somewhere quiet. Let's go back and just hang out in my room and take it easy for the rest of the evening."

Connor was already leisurely walking that way, hands behind his head. "You _almost_ sound like you're suggesting something else. Too bad."

He had already done something highly out of his comfort zone by participating in a fight club, so Oliver decided he'd push himself to say something that on a normal day he would never say. "Does that mean you'd rather spend the night taking it hard?"

Oliver saw him flinch at that. Connor was blushing brightly. "You're being REALLY WEIRD today!"

The discomfort he felt from his own words was entirely worth it for that reaction. "Are you coming or not?"

()

Shachi and Penguin walked blissfully out of one of the many "houses" that lined what was certainly the best street on that island. They were right, this was exactly where they wanted to be. The stone road was bordered on both sides with lines of two to three story villa style buildings with scantily-clad women all over the place. The cheap ones, who surely had something that could be caught, were offering their services to be done in the alleys between the buildings but the boys knew better than to go too cheap on their happy time. They went to one of the houses where the women were clearly taken care of, at least medically speaking.

After a few steps Penguin remembered something important. He tapped his friend's shoulder. "Money check."

"Whoops, I forgot."

The men check their pockets for their wallets, found that they were there and proceeded to check the contents. They had learned the hard way a long time ago that establishments such as that could easily slip away with every beri they had without their consent.

Shachi sighed. "Shit…"

Penguin looked at him with concern. "Did you get robbed?"

The redhead shoved his wallet back in his pocket. "No… I just realized it would have been better for us to get a bit more money before we started spending. We don't have anywhere near as much as we used to thanks to CP8 remember."

"Oh… Well how much do you have?"

"5,358 beri…" It really wasn't much, and who knew if their captain would be willing to give the crew more spending money tomorrow. Not forget to mention the days that followed. The log post takes ten days to set.

"I guess we should get to work then." Penguin said with a scheming smile.

"What are we waiting for?" Shachi passed the smile back.

After asking one of the girls on the street for directions the two men walked themselves to a stout building with lots of windows that were blocked with dark curtains. The only signage that was outside was a long metal plate that had spray painted gold lettering that read Aspers' Deck.

They confidently walked through the door and took in the sight of the large open room filled with tables covered in cards and dice and surrounded by people. They were going to need money quickly so what better way to make it than gambling? They obviously weren't the only people who thought this way too, since there was apparently half a dozen of these buildings in the city.

While Penguin was the stronger gambler of the two if they could help it they never worked alone. They had been hustling and working poker games for years before they met Law, so they knew how to execute their strategy flawlessly. Penguin went to a table first. It was dealing Hold'em, his game of choice. He sat down and offered up a little more than the minimum buy in amount while Shachi went to the in house bar and waited out some time with a drink.

The mechanic played a few hand safely getting a feel for the other players and, more importantly, the dealer. It was a rookie mistake for anyone to think the dealer as an individual was irrelevant. Any dealer who was worth their job knew how to work the shuffles and the multiple decks that they surely used. After about an hour of playing passively, only making a few bets here and there to keep himself from losing money and making a little more when he knew it would be his win, he understood enough about all of the participants at the table. Two of the players were just blowing through what must have been apparently an endless supply of funds but the other three seemed to just be playing to pass the time. The dealer changed decks at what might have seemed like random but Penguin found the correlation between deck changes and the game's activities. The man behind the table changed decks whenever someone bet 27% or more than what they had in their pile on a single hand, but only when they were at a minimum of 3 rounds in with that particular deck.

Penguin was doubtful that the dealer was following a pattern that precise purposely, it was probably more of an unconscious decision that when the player was confident like that it means the deck is being counted or the player had started memorizing which cards were yet to be played. He was likely at least partially correct. Anyone who was smart enough would definitely count the cards to get an edge.

Ready to start making money, Penguin bet precisely 27% of his pile on a hand that he had a high probability to win, holding pocket queen and 10 with one card short of showing a straight on the table and fairly high probability of one of the cards he needed to get it. With the chips in the man shifted his hat to call over his partner in crime who was pretending to watch another table somewhere else in the room. Before the hand finished playing Shachi was sitting at the table, making sure to acknowledge Penguin since they were obviously from the same crew but avoided making of point of sitting next to or even across from him, minimizing the risk of being accused of signaling each other. "How you playing?" He asked.

Penguin answered while thrumming his fingers against the table, two on his left hand while five the first time and two the second time on his right. "Doing pretty good now. Though you know the game; it's not something you can win frequently." It was bland statement that sounded obvious but it was their code. The thrumming was to translate a number while frequent meant the number was a percent.

"You're the one who sat down to play." The redhead replied while buying in.

He was once again thrumming his fingers, this time against his face while he looked away to grumble. "It's still fun."

Three fingers to indicate number of safe hands to bet high with each new deck before a change.

They were both equally capable of counting the cards and memorizing the played ones but Penguin's ability to calculate the details of every chip's flow far exceeded Shachi's. That's why they created this system. The mechanic would scout out the games then call over the medic who would be the more obviously aggressive gambler while relying on his partner to figure out and help control the flow of the game. This play formula of theirs has only failed them a handful of time and that was when it was still somewhat new. Now it was something they could perform drunk and half asleep. Maybe…

In a short twenty minutes Shachi had tripled his money and Penguin slowly but surely increased his chip pile as well. The people at the table not so subtly glared at the pair, certain they were working together to cheat somehow but because they were counting individually there was nothing being passed between the two. Everyone was too focused on Shachi and the fact that they were crewmates and they _had _to have been working together to win to really even notice that Penguin was controlling everything. It was Penguin's moves that more often than not caused the decks to change or bluffed just under the 27% to scare the other players away from betting big.

The most important trick to their system however was to not stay at a table too long. Shachi was never at a single table for longer than forty minutes and always being sure to leave after losing a hand that seemed like a lot but when compared to what he had left was nothing. The other important part of their departure was that Penguin stayed for another few hands without changing anything in how he played, neither being more aggressive nor submissive in his betting. He simply kept playing until Shachi returned after cashing his chips and requesting his friend to get up and leave so that they can return to the rest of the crew.

When he felt Shachi's hand on his shoulder he looked up.

"Hey man, we've gotta get going. You remember what happened last time we kept Captain waiting." He lied.

Penguin frowned and stammered, feigning fear. "Oh… Yeah. I got crap this hand anyways."

He tossed the cards and collected his chips, nodding to the others at the table then proceeded to cash them. The pair almost couldn't contain their jovial laughs, but they held it until they made it out of the building.

"Did you see their faces? They must've thought we were psychics or something!" Shachi roared happily.

Penguin couldn't contain himself any better. "I know! Too bad we couldn't stick around longer. One of these days we should just to see how long it takes for someone to crack and start a fight!"

"How much did you come out with?" Shachi asked.

"35,717 beri. You?"

"57,578." He announced proudly.

"You two are gambling again?" Marcus' voice cut through their happy laughter. He sounded a bit disappointed but looked impressed, probably because of their winnings.

Shachi got next to him and threw an arm over his shoulders to pull the other man closer. "I wouldn't call it gambling since we always come out on top."

Marcus sighed with a slight smile. "Just watch out for the day you have to explain to Captain that you lost a ton of money on cards."

"We'd always make it back." Penguin reassured him.

The medic shrugged out of his superior's arm. "What are you guys planning to do with all of it?"

They looked at each other for a moment before the mechanic spoke. "Take most of it to Captain then treat the crew to drinks!"

"I don't suppose you found any good bars yet?" Shachi asked.

Marcus looked up to take a moment to think. "Yeah. Ripper's House."

Shachi got a huge grin on his face. "I'll take the money to Captain if you guys track down everyone."

Penguin handed off most of the money in his pocket and was already moving down the street. "Deal. Come on Marcus!"

"It's on Mitre Square." Marcus told him as he followed after the mechanic.

"Got it! See you guys there."

* * *

**Comments, criticisms, corrections are all super appreciated.**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`)**

**GalliumStoat: First and foremost thank you for the criticism. I understand exactly what you mean about Ari's character being all over the place. It's actually something I've been unhappy about for a while and I've been referring to previous chapters a lot more to ensure I don't accidently contradict her previous behavior anymore than I have. But there was her point of changing her comfort level with the crew so there was that obvious and immediate change in her. Admittedly the planning that originally went into her character kind of fell apart since I started writing and I clearly shows in the story. That said her lack of exaggerated personality traits earlier in the story was intentional since she didn't want to get to close to the boys.**

**Sarge1130: Do not bother yourself with rereading the previous chapters. I'm sorry I forgot to mention it but the changes are strictly editing for grammar and consistency issues, the plot points are not being changed. Arianna feels the most safe with Law so she's starting to push her "no personal space" tendencies on him since it makes her more comfortable. Poor Law…  
Arianna's 'dead only' will be explain (of course) just not immediately. I'm going on the assumption that Law wouldn't want to be a Shichibukai for longer than necessary so the Rocky Port Incident won't be happening until later. As always, thank you for the review. :)**


	25. Chapter 25

**I apologize for the long delay. I haven't had much time lately for any writing :( Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 25**

When Law woke up it was only a little after seven in the morning and he was overcome with a realization. He basically had the ship to himself. Regardless of who made it back the previous night there is no way any of them would be awake for probably another few hours and Bepo loved to sleep in too when he got the chance. He stayed in his bed for a handful of minutes while thinking about how he would spend his morning, returning to sleep was certainly an option but for once he wasn't tired and had no desire to continue resting. In fact it was just the opposite; he wanted to get to work. He wasted no time in getting dressed in a short-sleeved shirt that looked just like his hoodie and a pair of his spotted jeans then going down the hall just outside of his room to Arianna's. Without bothering to knock as he usually didn't the pirate opened the girl's bedroom door with the intention of waking her up and dragging her outside for an early morning sparring match but shockingly she wasn't there. _*She didn't come back last night?* _

He sighed, it's not like he said anyone had to come back last night, they just needed to come by some point in the day. Even so he was surprised. Staying out all night was something he expected from the wild guys like Shachi and Penguin or Kalas, but not Arianna.

He didn't want to wake up Bepo and none of the other members of the crew who might be around would make for a good sparring partner so Law resigned himself to do something that he rarely does. He went to one of the training rooms and worked out with the various weights that lined up the walls of the space. Weight lifting and muscle training were by far his least favorite form of training which is perhaps why he avoids it and why he's less muscular than a lot of other pirates, members of his crew included. _*What was it Arianna called me? "Scrawny"?* _It may have been a while since then and she may have said that she was mistaken but that didn't mean she was completely wrong. …Relatively speaking. It was a boring process to him but he worked out regardless. Perhaps about forty minutes into it he was covered in a layer of sweat and felt like he was overheating so he took off his shirt and put away all of the weights. He approached a bar that jutted out a couple of feet from the wall with a decision that the last thing he was going do before taking a shower and going out into the city was pull ups. It was while he was doing this that the door opened. "There you are!"

He paused while holding himself up and turned his head slightly to look at Arianna who rushed into the room. "I've been looking for you."

Law rolled his eyes and resumed his task. "Your greeting made that obvious."

"Yeah well…" She trailed off for a moment. "Could you stop for a minute? You going up and down like that is distracting me."

"Nope." He answered curtly, partly because he knew he wouldn't want to start again if he stopped and partly because he was running out of breath.

He heard a slight hum from the girl before a pair of little hands appeared on the bar next to his but from the opposite side and she was following him up and down. "I was hoping that while we're at the island I could stay with a friend in town."

_*She probably stayed with this friend last night anyways.* _It made no sense to Law that she would ask permission to do something he certainly had already done. "Why?"

"If I stay with him then I won't have to worry about getting lost every day when I go out."

"'Him', huh?" He said as suspiciously as he could while his shoulders and arms struggled to continue holding his weight.

Arianna pulled herself completely up and past the bar then slipped her legs over it to sit. "Yeah. He had me stay with him when I was here before and asked if I wanted to again while we're here. Is that okay?"

Law dropped from the bar and wiped his face with his previously discarded shirt. "I don't care what you do."

"Great!" She jumped down with a quick sweeping glance up him and a smile.

He smirked at her and there was a bit of a glint in his eye. "Just make sure you don't leave this island pregnant."

"Wha-?! Yna oui lnywo? I wouldn't do something like that!" She was in full panic mode and rambled on in her native tongue, absolutely none of which Law had managed to figure out yet. The man took a step back just to give himself a better view of her posture, watching her ramble in her flustered state was fun. His delight at her panic must have been all over his face because when she happened to glance at him her expression frowned into a pout complete with pink dusting her cheeks in a residual blush. "You're not funny."

The man snickered and tossed his shirt into her face. She shouted with her voice muffled by the clothing. "Why?!"

He left her there with her face covered in his sweaty shirt, the hall's cooler air felt relaxing around his torso and he walked directly to his room. Taking a hot shower felt soothing to his swelled muscles and he dressed in white t-shirt, dark blue jeans and his hat. When he reached the deck it was almost a surprise that Marcus was outside wearing nothing but sweatpants and an undershirt, stretching out his arms and seemed to barely be awake and incredibly hung over. "Oh. Morning Captain."

"I didn't think anyone would be up for a while." He responded rather than with an actual greeting.

The man groaned slightly. "Yeah… Habit I guess."

"Any idea on who made it back to the ship last night?"

Marcus yawned before speaking. "Oliver and Connor for sure; they didn't come out with everyone else last night and I was the first to leave the bar. That was at almost three."

Law hummed in thought as he looked out at the city. "I'm going to go out. Stay here for a bit while everyone shows up."

"Sure. No complaints here." He spoke with a bit drawled out.

"'Morning." A lazy male voice called out from off the ship and one the dock.

When the captain looked over the railing he saw a tall and muscular red haired man looking up at them.

Marcus approached the rail too. "Jack?"

Law looked at his friend. "Who?"

"He owns the bar we were all at last night." The medic answered.

A bar owner tracking down their ship usually didn't mean anything good. Law waved for him to come aboard with a sigh. "What did my crew do?"

Jack looked a little surprised by the question but otherwise held a completely relaxed, almost lazy looking demeanor. "Nothing. The Heart Pirates were about as well behaved as a drunk pirate crew can be. Thanks for that by the way, I always appreciate good business."

"So why are you here?" The captain asked.

Before he could answer a blur of brown and green jumped him and the bar owner immediately reacted, throwing the creature over his body, causing it to slam onto the wooden deck of the sub with a painful grunt. Arianna rolled to her side a little with a groan, Jack knelt over her. "Nice try. Good morning Aria."

"Uh… You two know each other?" Marcus asked dumbfounded.

Law's mind went to something else. "This guy is the friend you want to stay with?"

"Wait, what?!" The medic shouted then held his head feeling the effects of his hang over again.

Jack grabbed Arianna's wrists and pulled her off the floor and dropped her to her feet but spoke to Law. "Yeah, I'm that guy."

"Did you find the ship okay?" The girl asked the red head.

He crossed his arms when he answered. "A yellow submarine does stand out."

"Yeah…" She looked at Law now.

"Get over it. I like my ship this way."

The girl rolled her eyes then jumped up on top of the ship's entrance and disappeared onto the smaller deck on the other side before immediately returning with the back pack that she was gifted on Beau Jardin. She was quick to start shoving the red head back off the ship. "Can we get going?"

Jack grabbed her by her head and pushed her away and held her at his full arm's length so he could resume talking to the two men. She swung her arms in a blur as if she honestly thought one of the strikes will reach him if she flailed fast enough. "_Are_ you okay with her staying at my place? I just don't want to deal with her wandering around lost in the city every day when she comes out my way."

Law would be lying if he said that the Arianna going out to meet this man everyday was somehow a given didn't bother him but he was okay with lies. "Like I told her, I don't care. If anything, Arianna just needs to check in with the ship every day."

"Okay." She agreed quickly.

"What's your rush?" Marcus asked her.

"We've got somewhere to be." The girl answered.

The two male Heart Pirates stared at her with suspicion.

"Right... We should get going." He released her and she stumbled at losing the force pushing against her. Jack nodded to the other two men and walked off the ship. "See you around."

Arianna followed behind, walking backwards a few steps while she spoke to them too. "I'll be sure to check in tomorrow. Bye!"

"So she's staying with some guy for the next nine days…" Marcus comment, probably to himself.

"She said she was living with him last time she was here." Law informed him.

"Seriously? I never took her as someone who would shack up with a guy."

"You do realize that she's essentially doing that with 15 guys by being on our crew?" Law pointed out.

"Uh…" The response he gave confirmed that he actually hadn't thought of it like that.

Law decided to leave him at that and started his decent off the ship.

"Are you going to follow them?" Marcus asked sounding shocked.

The captain narrowed his eyes a bit in annoyance. "I was on my way off the ship before that man even showed up. Unlike you I stayed here last night."

The medic looked like he wanted to back away that second. "Right, sorry…"

Law left his ship and medic and entered the town. The streets were far less crowded than they were when he was out for the supply run the previous day. Clearly a large number of individuals were not waking up early like him. He found a large directory sign that mapped out the city and examined it; placing a sign like this was odd but useful. He memorized some spots that looked like they could be of interest before picking a street and walking. There was no need to rush and see everything this island had to offer since they were going to be there for more than a week. If anything Law was certain he'll become bored of it all by the time they will finally be able to leave.

The further into the city that he went the slightly more interesting the surroundings became but there were quite a lot of locations on the earlier map that had nothing happing. He realized that there was a high probability that whatever happens there happens at night or at least later in the day. So he instead tracked down some food for his much delayed breakfast. He didn't want to make too much of a habit of eating out while at the island but he also didn't want to go back to the ship just to eat when he's barely been off of it. He settled on purchasing a small dish of grilled fish from a food stall and continued on his way as he ate. With little happening near the docks and around the cluster of streets that were dotted with bars, Law went further into the city where the locals were most likely to be living and spending their outing time. He eventually found where he had decided to spend his morning at while he waits for things to liven up a little: the library. The building was white and grand and incredibly welcoming looking. Besides there was some research he wanted to do and a collection of books as large as this might give him some answers.

He walked in and was greeted by a pair young women sitting behind a large ornate desk. They both smiled upon seeing the pirate but one was quicker to speak up. "May I help you?"

"Where would I find information related to the New World?"

The librarian stood and began leading him down a hallway to his left. "Right this way."

They entered a large room lined with bookshelves the size of which Law had never seen and he slowed for a few steps to take it in. They didn't stay in that room for long though and walked through a large arching doorway that served as an entrance to another room, this one smaller but still of noteworthy size. "Unfortunately information and literature on the New World is a rare find so we don't have as much as we would like. These four bookcases are everything we've been able to collect." She told him, indicating to a meager collection of books compared to the massive expanse that surrounded them.

"Is there anything in particular you were hoping to look up?" She stepped a little into Law's personal space, an obvious attempt a flirting, but the pirate had no interest.

"I've got it from here." He dismissed her poorly performed advance on him and proceeded to completely ignored her. He scanned the spines of the books along one shelf and was actually impressed by the collection they do have. It was as the woman said, information from that part of the ocean is very hard to come by. He found a title that held promise on the information he was interested in and pulled it from it place, found a comfortable looking chair and began reading.

()

It was a little after three in the afternoon before Arianna and Jack had managed to finish up and get back outside. As the pair walked down the crowded street, only moving apart when a horse or cart approached, the girl stretched her arms up and yawned as they walked down the streets followed by the man yawning widely as well. "What are you tired for? I'm the one actually working."

"What I do is work too. Besides I'm up most of the night for the bar and up early almost every day."

"No one is making you…" She pointed out.

"I have a lot of work and I need to always set a good example for my staff. Besides I make a point of not doing any work on Tuesdays."

"Yeah, I remember. Are we still going to the same warehouse?" Arianna asked.

"Yep." He answered as he lit a cigarette and took a deep inhale.

"Ugh…" She groaned in disgust. Arianna truly hated the smell of smoke and used to try and convince him to stop smoking, at least when she's around but had never been successful.

"Shut up… This is my first all day. I will try to quit but now isn't a good time. When things calm down at the bar it'll be easier. For the time being though I need it to take the edge off."

"How did the bar turn out?" She asked. He had only just bought the building when she left so it wasn't open for business yet.

"Good. I named it The Ripper's House." He informed her.

"Haven't you been trying to keep to yourself? Why bring that name up?"

"I'm not worried." Sometimes he truly didn't seem capable of worrying about anything.

"You kind of sound like Law." Arianna said with a sigh.

"Interesting that you call your captain by his first name..."

"Is it?" Apparently she didn't think so.

"…Almost as interesting as your insistence against telling him what you're planning."

"You promised not to tell!" She was quick to shout back.

Jack rubbed his finger in his ear as if to clean it out to show that he thought she was being loud. "I know and I won't. I just think it's stupid that you want to keep it a secret. He'd probably be happy to hear that you are going to try and make back all the money that was stolen."

"I made a mistake and I want to make up for it but I don't want to tell him yet since I don't know that I actually can."

"Are you sure you don't just want to surprise him with what you do manage to make so he'll pet you and tell you that you did a good job?"

He saw in his peripheral vision that Arianna blushed a bit and gripped the straps of her backpack tightly. "That has nothing to do with it!"

"So you do want him to." Jack taunted her with the cigarette still in his mouth.

"W-well, he's my captain. Of course I want to do something that makes him happy." She tried to make an excuse.

"I suppose... Here we are." He stopped at a large brick building and opened the unlocked door. The inside was just a large empty space with a network of metal beams spider-webbing across the ceiling. It was their preferred training spot. "Alright…" Jack sighed as he rubbed out tiny nub that was left of his cigarette on the wall and dropped it. He knelt beside the door and set a kitchen timer for its max, an hour. "Let's see if you've gotten rusty."

Arianna smiled confidently at him. "I haven't."

"Alright…" He slowly curled his fingers into a fist then swiftly backhanded her but she blocked and let the force throw her further into the room. The girl was quick to retaliate and came in close to deliver a palm strike which he sidestepped with ease and shuffled away before he finally put his hands up in a stance was seemed too open to be real. He stood with his feet wide and his right arm extended with his entire posture relaxed. Jack was the picture of relaxed to the point of seeming lazy, just like always. He allowed her to punch and kick all she wanted while all he would have to do is step away or redirect her. The little warrior was becoming frustrated with him and rushed him particularly quickly so he instead caught her fist. It took his body a moment to absorb the impact of her force but once he did Jack shot his fist directly into her abdomen and sent her clear across the building into the far wall about twenty feet away.

When she didn't get back up right away he walked over to her. She was still doubled over on the floor heaving and it looked like she threw up bile. _*That's why we never eat first.*_ He reminded himself.

"Want to keep going once you catch your breath?" He asked.

She groaned but he recognized it as an agreement so he sat down next to her while he waited.

"You're stronger than when you left. That punch had plenty of power and you are definitely faster than before." He told her his current assessment.

She took a deep breath as she sat up and leaned against the wall. "I'm still not good enough."

"You do pretty well for someone who fights with weapons."

She didn't respond and he assumed that she rolled her eyes at him like she usually does when he said something encouraging to her.

"Alright…" He patted her calf. "Let's get back to it."

He took back his relaxed stance and she took an extra second to take an extra deep breath but got back on her feet and charged without further warning. She opened her assault with a roundhouse kick this time and when he blocked he bounced her foot off him and pushed her off her balance but she was quick to readjust and threw herself to her hands and kicked straight out with her other foot into his open chest. Jack was thrown back this time but he took the attack better than she and returned to his feet without missing a beat. "Good. You all warmed up then?"

She looked at him with her slightly crouched stance and her partially closed fists held protectively in front of her face and chest. She was looking at him with sharp predatory eyes. "Yeah."

Jack pulled in his extended arm a little and tightened his stance slightly. He rushed her now and threw his elbow directly at her face but she caught it and punched for his left eye. He angled his neck so that it only grazed his ear. With both her hands occupied he kneed her side to put some distance in between them. They were going to be fighting up close of course but that close was at her advantage since his reach was longer than hers. He adjusted his fighting style to be equally as aggressive as hers, every time one of them created distance between them he would rush back at her just as fast or faster than she. This was how it always went when they sparred together, it was their agreement. He was an experienced hand-to-hand fighter so he was the one who adjusted his power and initiative in his strikes and their only rule was that they do not strike the face. It was a rule they never actually followed though they rarely made contact with those attacks anyways.

They continued on like this, a mass of striking fists and feet, for over two hours. When they took breaks it was signaled by the timer going off and it didn't lasted longer than three minutes and when they, usually Arianna, got hit they just got back up and tried not to get hit again. This was how he taught her to fight; well, fight without her weapons as an advantage. When he punched through her block and his fist connected directly with the right side of her chest she craned slightly so instead she threw her upper body completely down so she was on her hands and rabbit kicked him in the diaphragm again. It knocked the breath out of him but Jack caught her foot and threw her. She landed on her side hard and rolled a little. Arianna pushed herself back to her feet a bit too slowly for a real fight but it was fine at the moment since just as Jack estimated the third hour was up and the timer shrilled to tell them so.

Jack took a few deep breaths, he needed it after that last kick, and slowly walked over to turn the knob and silence the little mechanism. "I'm out of time."

Arianna flopped onto her back and wheezed as she tried to breathe normally, covered in sweat. "Yeah, I remember."

Jack approached her and stood over her, examining the sweaty girl's chest. She gave him an uncomfortable look. "Why are you staring?"

"You still don't wear underwear, do you?" He asked with a tone that one might use on questions as mundane as asking about weather.

She looked like she wanted to snarl at him but was too busy panting to pull it off. "I do too wear underwear!"

"So it's just bras that you don't wear?" He offered his hand as he asked.

She took it despite being dissatisfied with his questions. "Do you have a point?"

Jack opened his mouth to answer but then closed it and reconsidered his options. "I guess not. Any plans while I go to the bar?"

She rolled her neck and rubbed at its base. "Go back to your place and nap?"

"Are you going to shower first?" He asked as they walked out of the building and started heading towards his house.

"Why would I do that? I'm going to get even worse when I go to Ryder's tonight."

It was a decent point. "Then at least lay down on an old blanket or something."

"Sure."

Jack wanted to say something to pass the time so he picked a question that had been bothering him all morning. "I'm curious, how much did you tell your captain about me?"

"That I stayed with you last time I was here and that we are friends."

He looked at her with a touch of concern, as much he could be bothered with anyways. "That's it?"

"Yeah. Why?" She answered.

Jack needed a cigarette now. "He didn't seem to like me very much."

"I noticed but he doesn't really like anyone outside the crew. I'm not even sure he likes everyone in the crew." She told him nonchalantly.

"And you want _him_ to pet you?" He teased.

"Will you stop talking about that?!" She complained loudly, earning his laugh. Jack led them back to his house and took a shower and changed into a clean grey shirt and black jean pants. By the time he cleaned himself up the girl was fast asleep on his couch without having put a blanket down first. He however went back to The Ripper's House where a couple of his bartenders were waiting and lifted the shutters that opened the room and they began setting up for the night. It wasn't long before he saw wave after wave of people enter the bar and start ordering drinks. Work was steady and the time moved quickly. It didn't feel like it took long for the first hour and a half to pass and it was at this point that he saw a handful of familiar patrons enter the building. A few members of the Heart Pirates wandered back. He never officially met these four men and they were not wearing their uniforms but he recognized their faces so he greeted them. "Hello gentlemen."

"Yo!" A jovial thick man with sleeves of black and grey skulls, smoke, waves and demon tattoos responded.

"Do you need something?" Another with black hair and a cane asked, with a polite tone.

"I wanted to introduce myself since I didn't last night. I'm Jack, the owner. You are members of the Heart Pirates right? Do you know your captain is going to be coming tonight?"

A different man, kid really, with ruddy brown hair looked like he was thinking about it before answering. "Probably. Why?"

"I met him earlier today and I think I need to talk to him about something."

"About what?" The tallest and clearly the oldest of the group asked suspiciously. Jack examined him and recognized the calloused knuckles of a hand to hand fighter.

"It's something involving Arianna."

"Oh…" As expected the sheer mention of the girl was enough to tell them that she created a problem.

"Wait… You're the guy that Arianna is staying with?" The oldest of them asked.

"Yeah. She gets lost too easily and I don't want her holding everything up every day."

"Holding what up?" The guy with a cane asked.

"She… She asked me to keep it to myself." He felt a bit bad for telling them to their faces that she was hiding something but when they shifted and looked around uncomfortably rather than push for answers it was apparent that they assumed he was referring to a private relationship of some kind.

"And what exactly is she telling you to keep to yourself?" The voice of Trafalgar Law spoke up from behind him.

"Why don't we talk over there?" Jack said, pointing to the bar top.

Law complied and Jack grabbed two beers, offering one to the pirate.

They both took a sip before the red head spoke. "Arianna didn't explain anything in detail right?"

"I don't want those details." Law looked away from him and back at the growing group of Heart Pirates.

"My point exactly. You think Arianna and I are sleeping together right? We're not." Jack told him flatly.

Law laughed but it sounded a bit sarcastic. "Does she know that? Because most of the time she's too ignorant about other people."

"She not that stupid, trust me. Besides she's cute and all but I've no interest in a kid 12 years younger than me, especially when I have a wife and six year-old of my own."

The pirate looked shocked, most people are when finding out Jack is 33. Law jumped past that though when he responded. "You're right. Arianna left out those details. This is exactly what I meant when I said she's ignorant when it comes to other people."

_*How ironic.*_ Jack thought with an internal laugh. Law didn't know that Arianna was doing something borderline crazy for his praise, though she insists that making up for her mistake is the first reason and his praise was a separate goal.

"Where is she anyways?" He asked.

"She's probably eating dinner with my family by now." Jack guessed.

"Hmm." The pirate gave a nonspecific hum but otherwise said nothing more. Well, almost nothing more. "So what is she keeping secret?"

"It's nothing bad, I told her I would keep it to myself though." Jack suddenly got a bit of a smile on his face. "But if you happened to find out on your own that wouldn't be my problem." The bar owner pulled a napkin over and took a pen from over the bar. He scribbled something on the paper. "If you go here in the morning she'll probably panic and put on a good show."

Law took the napkin and smiled. "That's always enjoyable."

With their misunderstanding out of the way the two men began to have a normal and casual conversation that the other pirates slowly joined in on. By the end of the night Jack came to a conclusion. Arianna had found a good crew to get herself caught up in.

()

The morning was slow going for Thomas; a night of drinking would do that to a guy. He felt compelled to follow his routine and went into the kitchen. While he was very doubtful that practically anyone will be getting up early but it wasn't exactly early anymore. Actually it was past ten.

When he got to his destination Austin was there and cooking, the smell of bacon and eggs filled the air. Thomas leaned against the wall and observed as his apprentice worked away, completely ignorant that he was being watched. Austin's focus was good and he kept everything moving when it needed to be and left untouched where necessary. It was this kind of skillful care that made the difference between food that was nothing special and food that was great. Thomas decided to make himself known. "Want a hand?"

The younger man looked at him with his grey eyes and smiled. "Naw, I'm about finished. Don't know how many people are going to be coming down though."

The senior chef looked at the cooking food and estimated the amount of ingredients used. "I wouldn't make more than that."

While Austin finished up Thomas poured himself a generous cup of black coffee and sipped it slowly.

He saw his protégé smirk and chuckle slightly. "I've got to admit, I don't miss drinking as much as I thought I would."

"You don't say?"

"Yeah. Everyone really does look like idiots when drunk. I have a good enough time sober." Austin was half laughing, clearly pleased with how the previous night, probably two nights went.

A few of the men slowly wandered into the galley in search of coffee first and food second, all obviously nursing hangovers. Kai clambered over, unsteady on his cane. "Morning guys."

"How are you feeling?" Thomas asked.

"Sore…" He answered.

"Yeah, that's because you kept falling over." Austin added.

"I only have one good leg, how am I supposed to stay up right?"

"You've been following Captain's instructions, right?" The chef asked.

"I have. Doesn't mean putting weight on the leg doesn't suck…"

"You'll get there eventually." Austin tried to be encouraging.

"You're lucky, you don't have to go through any physical rehab." The man complained slightly.

"Sure. I just have to follow special nutrition boundaries for the rest of my life. Lucky…" Austin reminded him.

"Well chances are I'll never get full strength back in my leg." For some reason Kai wanted to continue to argue that of the two Austin was the lucky one.

Thomas rolled his eyes at the childish behavior and proceeded to ignore them when Austin took the bait and they started to banter on the matter. He took a plate for himself and with his coffee left the kitchen and sat at one of the tables. He usually didn't get to eat in the galley with the rest of the crew but he enjoyed it when he did.

To his surprise Law sat down across from him.

"Good morning Captain."

He nodded in reply but continued to sip his own black coffee. Law had done quite a bit of drinking the previous night too.

"Anything planned for the day?"

Law sighed out after swallowing. "Not much. I'm going to the library but after that I don't have anything specific I was going to do."

Thomas laughed internally; his captain would spend his free time at a library. "I get it. There isn't much going on in the mornings."

"What about you, any plans?" Law extended the same question to the chef.

"I was hoping to look around the restaurants to see if I can get any ideas for new meals this morning but otherwise same as you. Nothing in particular decided."

"I thought this place is supposed to be fun…" The captain complained slightly.

"I'm having a good time. I just wish there was more going on during the morning, though I'm sure by the time we leave we won't be much for mornings anyways."

"Fair enough."

They ate in silence from there and Law left first. When Thomas got up to clean his plate Austin had already cleaned up the kitchen and eaten his own breakfast so they left together. It was relaxing to be just the two of them for a change, the chef felt like he hadn't had much time for his apprentice lately and when he did that apprentice was off with other members of the crew doing who knows what. _*Maybe he's running late in his rebellious phase?* _While Thomas was by no means old, he was only 34, he would still consider everyone else on the crew a kid; everyone but Bart that is. Austin in particular was actually the youngest of all at 19, not that he would ever willingly admit to that fact, which was fine since he usually was one of the more mature members of the crew anyways. …Usually.

They couldn't actually go around buying food at all of the restaurants so instead the pair looked at the food the paying customers were eating, and keep their noses open for anything that catches their attention. A few things caught Austin's eye but nothing really interested Thomas.

"Tom-san, do you want to keep looking around?" They had already passed by all of the restaurants in the unofficially designated tourist area of the city but that did still leave all of the smaller, quieter places that would mostly be locals, which probably also meant better quality of food.

"I guess." Thomas looked at Austin who was watching a group of excited people in the crowd with mild interest. "Something in particular you want to do?"

Austin stammered a bit like he was embarrassed. "N-no. I was just curious where they're going."

"Then let's find out."

"That's okay! We can get back to work." He was definitely embarrassed. It made Thomas laugh.

"Come on son, it's just you and me. I don't mind being done for the day."

"I'm not your son so don't call me that!" He acted upset but Thomas knew better than to believe it.

"Don't be like that, we both know you like it." Thomas teased mostly because the fact that he didn't believe it aside, it was a bit hurtful when he was denied like that and he wanted to upset the boy.

"No I don't!"

The man rolled his eyes but chose to not continue engaging in the pointless exchange. He instead followed after the group that had caught Austin's eye and the moody boy followed him.

There was the growing sound of cheers. It was coming from an abnormally large alley where the two found a crowd of men and women all standing against the buildings or sitting on crates that seemed to only have that as their purpose and all were focused on a collection of four horses attached to small passenger carriages, all had empty cabins but three had men sitting in the driver seats. "Come on! Don't we have any other brave souls who want to take the gamble?"

"This must be one of those races we heard about." Thomas said.

"Let's do it." Austin said out of nowhere.

"What?" Thomas wasn't sure if he should take the crazy suggestion as serious or not.

"Yeah, it looks like fun."

"It looks like a race to the death." The older man said disapprovingly.

He could see Austin hesitate but then clenched his fist. "I'm doing it."

"No you are not!" Despite his mentor's yell the boy ran up to the announcer and pulled out some money from his pocket. He handed the stranger the money and was handed a parchment in return.

"Damn it… He really is in his rebellious phase." Thomas groaned as he followed and wasted no time in jumping into his certain death with his student.

"Changed your mind that fast?" Austin said tauntingly.

"Were you going to steer _and _navigate alone?"

The ruddy haired boy didn't say anything to that probably because he didn't have a clue how he would have done that.

"Your crazy idea, you take the reins. If you kill us you're on dish duty for the rest of our journey with Captain." The chef said warningly as he swiped the parchment that he correctly assumed to be the map with the route drawn in. The race track seemed to span five blocks with eight spots marked. "What are these X's about?"

"He said they're checkpoints and we have to pass all of them or else we're disqualified."

"Racers! Take your reigns!"

A sudden thought crossed Thomas's mind. "Have you ever driven a buggy before?"

"It can't be that hard, right?" He answered terrifyingly unconcerned.

"GO!"

Austin raised and snapped the reigns against the horse making them take up and whipping the two back into their seats. The three other racing pairs were all just as fast to coax their animals and a few stacks of crates were suspiciously strategically placed to narrow out the opening into the street so much that the carriages could barely squeeze out two at a time. Everyone else continued to usher their horses forward faster than Austin did and they watched as the leader passed through followed by two carts that were nearly touching as they exited the alley. When they exited onto the street he quickly realized they needed to turn and immediately to follow the other racers and pulled one side of the reigns so fast and far too much, making the horse stumble slightly as it was forced into its sharp turn and the carriage skidded on two wheels. When all of the wheels made it back to the road Thomas took the leather straps from Austin. "Alright, you've already almost killed us, we're switching!"

"Sorry…" He sounded embarrassed as he took the map but Thomas didn't care right now, he had to focus on catching up to the others so he ushered the horse to move faster as he followed the path through the people that was already cleared for the other three.

"Is the next turn left or right?"

The boy inspected the map for a second. "Left."

"Got it!" With his first move decided the chef steered his horse slightly to the right and came up behind the buggy racing just in front of them. While he wasn't about to play it completely safe and simply lose he wasn't keen on being overly risky so he will take the turns a little wide. They were side by side with the third place cart just as they were at the turn. Thomas was focused on his horse and timing the turn just right since at the speed they was going flipping the cart and injuring the horse was incredibly easy while Austin glared at the two racers beside them. When Thomas pulled the left side of the reigns to make the horse turn Austin yanked him down just as the sound of a gunshot rang clearly. When he looked up the chef saw that the racer not controlling the horse on the opposing buggy was pointing a flintlock pistol at them, taking aim for a second shot.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Austin screamed as he yanked the leather reigns side to side so that the horse run erratically, causing the carriage to rock dangerously and slam into the other one, unbalancing the racers and the shot fired off into the sky.

"ARE YOU NUTS?!" Thomas yelled.

"No, they are!" The younger pirate justified himself.

The panicked dispute was ended at the sound of a crash a little way ahead of them and they saw one of the other racing carriages still rolling and the horse crying loudly on its side with the splintered wood from the attachment shaft beneath it. One of the racers on the one cart further ahead looked like he was settling back onto the seat.

"Looks like no one is playing fair…" Thomas grumbled.

"You were right this is a race to the death." Austin begrudgingly admitted.

As Thomas steered around the wreckage they came in closer to the cart that they had previously rammed and it was suspiciously lacking a passenger. As that realization processed itself in the chef's brain a foot kicked Austin and he fell from the seat but caught himself on a lantern hook beside the cabin door. Thomas wrapped the reigns around one of his wrists and held it as still as he could while he stood and turned the rest of his body to face the attacker on top of the cabin. He punched straight into the man's knee causing it to bend in an unnatural way, sending him to his side and screaming in pain. Once he did Thomas was quick to grab his shirt and tossed him in to the street.

With the intruder no longer a concern the man leaned over to give the younger one a hand back onto the bench but a shot was fired off and nearly hit him. Austin had hoisted himself up and held onto a rod that bordered the roof of the cart and looked at the now lone racer on the cart beside them. "Get closer!" The young cook shouted.

Thomas understood what he wanted to do and smiled sinisterly. Since no one else was racing fair why should they? Thomas steered the horse around what was already the third turn, leaving only three more, then pulled in a little closer to their current opponent who saw this and attempted to ram into them and crush Austin. He was strong and fast though and he pulled himself up and held in a handstand for about a second to allow the cart to hit then steady enough for him to jump across. Once there the man pulled his gun and aimed it for Austin who stepped on it at an angle that would keep it from hitting him or Thomas then kicked him square in the jaw and the racer lost hold of the reigns which fell into the space between the carriage seat and the horse. Austin saw this and quickly jumped back to his and Thomas' carriage. Within seconds the horse's foot caught the leather, tripping it and it fell neck and shoulder first and rolled, the cart flipped over as well and the man was likely crushed beneath.

"Ready for the next one?" Thomas asked as he closed in on the final racer.

"Let's do it!"

One the fourth turn Thomas had managed to catch up to their opponent and Austin wasted no time in jumping the roofs and one of the two racers was up on the roof with him with a knife pointed and ready. Thomas couldn't help but smile. _*This guy doesn't realize that he just picked a knife fight with the wrong pirate.*_

Austin pulled a thick combat knife from under his shirt at the small of his back and held it with held it with a backhanded grip and low stance. There wasn't much room to maneuver on the carriages but when the racer stepped towards Austin to stab him the young pirate easily deflected and hit him with the butt of the handle, unsteadying his balance and then kicked him off the cart. Thomas couldn't see what he did to the final driver from his position when the boy leaned over the front of the cabin but he was quick to return back after and the other horse wasn't running with as much urgency as before. Passing the carriage became easy and when he did he saw the man laying on the bench with a small amount of blood trailing from his head. It wasn't wide enough to suggest getting cut so the cook probably just hit him too.

They slowed their horse since they were no longer racing anyone and they now had to actually worry about the crowd walking uncaringly in the street. Austin dropped down heavily next to Thomas with a smile. "We're all clear."

"Good, now direct me where to go."

Austin pulled the map out from the crease between the seat and back of the bench. "Where are we?"

"Passing Mrytle Lane." The older man answered as he read the first street sign they passed.

"Um… Okay! Take the third left and that will be the last turn."

"Finally..."

"You say that like you're not having fun." The younger man teased.

"As fun as almost dying is I don't like driving carriages."

"I'll drive." He was quick to reach for the reigns again.

"NO! Not after the way you took off! Just sit back and let someone with experience do this." He harshly rebuked.

Austin laughed. "And you said your old job wasn't good for anything. Should I go into the cabin?"

Thomas knocked him on the back of the head sort of lightly for bringing up his previous occupation as a butler; a butler to Austin's family to be more precise. "Once we finish this race I'm taking you back to the ship and beating this newfound attitude out of you."

"You wouldn't… Would you?" The dirty-red haired boy looked legitimately concerned.

"Well…. We'll see…"

There was a brief silence between the pair until Austin broke it. "There's a 34,000 beri prize for winning this race."

Thomas sighed, knowing what he was doing. "Fine, you're in the clear."

()

By about nine of the fourth morning Law had managed to drag himself out of bed and briefly pondered as to what he should do with his day, heavily considering sleeping through the remnants of his hangover. It wasn't that bad since he paced himself like always but it was still there. He didn't realize it but he once again fell asleep in his clothes from the previous day so he decided it would be best to start the day with a shower. The man walked out of the bathroom and back into the living area of his room in a towel and drying his hair and notice a small bag on his desk and knew it contained money, as had the bags that he had been finding on his desk the past two days. He took a step to open it and find out just how much but was distracted when he stepped on cloth. He took a step to open it and find out just how much but was distracted when he stepped on cloth. It struck him that he had let himself become a bit lazy and had been simply dropping his clothes after sleeping in them, and they were now strewn about along with his newly discarded outfit. Because he hadn't been in his room longer than needed to go to sleep and then wake up and leave the mess hadn't caught his attention before but now it seriously bothered him. He got dressed in a tee shirt, jeans and sweater then picked up all the clothes from the floor. While he did he found something white and papery in the back pocket from the pants he wore three days ago. It was a napkin with directions written on it. Law needed a second to think through the slight haze of that night since he had done a substantial amount of drinking then but eventually he remembered that it was directions Jack had given him to see what Arianna was up to.

The pirate glanced suspiciously at the sac of beri and conceded to his curiosity. "I don't have anything better to do."

The streets were already flooded with people who completely disregarded the possibility of getting trampled by horses or run over by carts just like they were every day. Law repeatedly checked the directions to make sure he was going the right way and when he reached Lamburg Road he saw exactly what Jack was leading him too.

In front of a smallish, pretty brick and wood building called Pancakes and Shortcakes was Arianna wearing a little black maid inspired dress with a poofy green apron, detached sleeves that almost covered her hands and exaggeratedly long green bloomers peeked out from the bottom of the short dress. He legs were covered in green thigh high stockings and she was wearing black cloth flat shoes. All that was missing was a headdress from her usual brown pigtails. She was speaking to a pair of women sitting at a little table and holding a tray closely to her body. The girl rushed back into the building and Law and Bepo looked at each other. Both were already smiling and working to contain their laughs. Without wasting another second they walked straight into the diner and Law scanned the room quickly. Arianna wasn't in sight but Jack was. He smiled and waved them over to the table he was sitting alone at. "Did you lose the instructions?"

"I wasn't in a hurry." He lied.

"What is she doing?" Bepo laughed out.

"Waitressing. Tulla and I own this place too and we had her work here before so we figured we could use her help again." Jack informed them.

Law watched as the girl walked through a door with a tray full of food and she walked straight outside with an obvious effort to avoid looking their way. He watched her give the plates to some customers through the window and return to the inside, still doing her best to pretend they weren't there. "Hey you, don't you know how to treat a customer?" Law baited her.

She stiffened but didn't move.

"Miss! We didn't get breakfast and we're very hungry." Bepo played along with his friend.

A different waitress in a blue version of the uniform stepped towards them but Jack shook his head no to her. With a deep breath first, Arianna turned and approached their table. "How are you here?"

Even though she asked she glared viscously at Jack, who didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"Weren't you listening? We're hungry. Are you going to take our order or not?" Law continued with his game.

She whined slightly. "Fine… What do you want to eat?"

"Before food I want coffee." The captain answered.

"I want a refill on mine too." Jack said.

"Water for me please!" Bepo added on.

"Okay." She rushed out of sight again and returned within the minute with their drinks as well as a few others which she immediately left them to give to other tables. While Law was watching the girl he noticed Jack look him up and down but otherwise said nothing.

She however couldn't avoid them for long and when there were no more customers that needed her services she returned to Law, Bepo and Jack. She sighed and looked at Jack with eyes that looked darker than normal. "You really couldn't keep this to yourself for at least three days?"

"He actually sold you out two nights ago." Law informed, intensifying her glare.

"I could've but this, among other things, is more interesting." Jack had a certain drawl to his voice that made Law suspect that there was something else that he now wants to know. The money that was most certainly being left in his room by her was a lot for simple waitressing.

She growled slightly but sighed and looked at her captain like she was a little nervous and unsure what to say. "Do you know what you want to eat?"

_*Eat?* _For a moment Law was confused but quickly remembered that he was previously heckling her by saying that he was hungry. Problem was he never actually looked at the menu, he didn't even realize there was one on the table. "No."

Bepo shook his head no behind him.

She didn't stick around another second. She disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a tray full of food that she gave to a family sitting on the other side of the room.

"That's part of why she's a good server, she can hear the cook when he says that an order is done. Since we're so small I don't want him yelling it across the diner and it can cause a problem if the girls aren't paying attention." The owner said as he sipped at his coffee.

"Why is she working here at all?" Law asked though he had already figured it out more or less.

"She-" He was interrupted by a flying tray that would have hit him in the face had he not caught it. Arianna was glaring at him from across the room.

"Then you tell him." The red head said no louder than he had been talking but she must have heard, seeing as how she heard everything else.

When she came to retrieve her large plastic tray she looked everywhere but Law. Jack lightly bonked her on the head. "Just do it."

She frowned uncomfortably but finally looked at him. "I wanted to try and make some money. Back at Vertwall I was supposed to be watching the ship and ended up not doing my job, so I wanted to make it up to you."

_*I knew it.*_ He tossed his sword up so that he could hold it from near the bottom and knocked her hard on her head. Not hard enough to crack her skull or anything like that but he was hoping to leave some damage. "Don't stupidly hide something helpful like that!"

She held the top of her head where he could already see a lump forming and whimpering painfully. "I'm sorry…"

"Ari-chan, why would you hide that?" Even Bepo seemed dumbfounded by her.

"Because I was the one who made a mistake, a huge one… I should fix it. I just wanted everyone else to try and enjoy themselves." By the time she finished her answer she had stood back up but continued to rub her head.

For perhaps the first time since knowing the girl Law actually appreciated what she was hoping to accomplish by keeping a secret. She was trying to be thoughtful in her unnecessary way. Why is she always so secretive? "You may have made a mistake but it wasn't your failure alone. You weren't the only person on the ship and I don't think you would have been able to make much of a difference unless you were planning to attack Clyde without provocation while the rest of the crew was away."

Bepo nodded in agreement with their captain's words, all the while Jack listened silently. Arianna met his eyes for a few seconds and then looked away with the slightest hint of a blush. "I want to continue with my plans while we're here."

Law reclined slightly in the wooden chair. "By all means, I certainly won't stop you."

The girl looked behind him towards the kitchen door then left, collected some plates from costumers who finished their meals and disappeared into the kitchen. When she came back she surprisingly brought plates of food to her captain and first mate. An omurice with a side of sausage for Law and French toast stacked like a tower of pancakes loaded with maple syrup for Bepo. The bear smiled joyously at his plate but Law stared at the girl confused. She just smiled and went back to working.

"How do you like the city now that you've had time to explore it?" Jack asked.

"It's a little boring in the mornings but otherwise I get it. Once the late afternoon comes it's easy to keep yourself entertained." Law answered as he took a spoonful of food.

"We can't be perfect." The local replied.

"It's okay, Captain's been going to the library in the morning."

"Find anything interesting to read?" Jack asked.

"Just looking into some things in the New World." _*Not that I'm finding what I'm looking for.*_ He added to himself.

"You've been spending your mornings reading?" Arianna asked from behind him, she sounded confused.

"Is there a problem with that?" Law asked with a slight smile.

"No, but what's so great about reading?"

"If you could read then you would know." Jack interjected.

Law nearly choked on his food and Bepo dropped his right out of his mouth. "You can't read?!" The two pirates asked.

"Or write." Jack added in his lazy drawl.

Now the pirates looked her up and down again and noticed that she was not carrying any kind of notepad to write orders. She frowned with a slight growl directed towards Jack. "I can read."

"Not well."

"But I CAN read." She restated.

"My six year old reads better than you. Plus she can write." Jack continued.

"How do you not know how to read?" Law finally managed to ask.

"E drehg oui vunkud cusadrehk syzun." She spoke in her other language.

_*Oh yeah.* _He wasn't sure how but he managed to momentarily forget that she was bilingual and this wasn't her first language. "You need to learn how to read."

"I can get by, isn't that enough?"

"If it was then I would have said should not need." He was firm on this.

She flinched slightly when she saw that he was actually unhappy to find out that she was illiterate. "I don't know what you are upset about. I can read more than anyone in my Family, probably better than most Tribesmen actually."

"But you're with us now and you are going to learn to read."

She groaned, discontent in his decision but she started smiling after a couple of seconds. She crossed her arms and leaned on his shoulder, putting her face close to his. "Then you should teach me."

Law's eyes widened in surprise. "Why me?"

"You're the one who wants me to learn and I'm teaching you Haki so it's fair, right?"

Now it was Law's turn to groan. _*Why can she make sound arguments when it's for her benefit?*_ Then again, he didn't have to care if her argument was sound. "I'm not teaching you."

She straightened herself as she puffed up her cheeks a little in a pout. "Why not?"

"I get final say and I say that I don't want to."

She grumbled something that suspiciously didn't sound like a word that didn't belong in his language. "What was that?"

"How can a grown man act like such a brat?" When she repeated herself there was a certain edge to her tone, not cutting but she was definitely provoking him along.

Jack laughed quietly and Law was having fun. "It's one of the perks of being the one in charge." He answered tauntingly.

When he spoke she looked a little surprised but was quickly taken over by light laughter, Bepo laughed now too.

She was still laughing when she turned to look through the window at some people who were sitting at an outdoor table. She looked back at her captain with a challenging smirk before going to the new customers. "You win this time Law."

"This and every time after." He said smugly before taking another sip of coffee.

* * *

**Yes I realize this chapter isn't super exciting but if there's nothing but fights then how will any of the characters (Law and Arianna specifically) get closer? ;)**

**Comments, concerns, complaints and criticisms are all welcomed :)**

**Yay Comments! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`):**

**sarge1130: I kind of like giving the Hearts a break so at least for now they aren't having to deal with anything excessively dangerous in the romping through the city. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Law seems like he's a good pirate captain so I doubt he'd force his crew to do anything horrible but forcing them to not be bums is different. I'm hoping to give you guys a look at some of the other boys while here so that they are a bit more like individual characters rather than just background noise. Shachi and Penguin seem like they are some of the trusted members of Law's crew since they are seen the most (along with Bepo) so I think no matter what they'd always have the best intentions for the crew at heart.**

**rainydaywritings: You're so sweet, you make me smile like an idiot :) It really does make me happy to know that you like my characters and stories. Grimmjow and Law are bae as hell and need more stories! Especially Grimmjow that poor man got seriously plot blocked when Kubo was forced to end Bleach early!**


	26. Chapter 26

**You guys, I'm alive! Barely, but I'm alive. Four fucking months later here is chapter 26 and it's so long it puts my others to shame. This in no way represents the length that I want to write future chapters and I would break it up into two but there was no where that would have a comfortable break and still maintain content worth its own chapter so ridiculously long chapter it is.**

* * *

**Chapter 26**

Arianna was in a pitch black space and it felt empty and hollow. It felt nice. The black space was so relaxing that she couldn't bear the thought of leaving it but her enjoyment didn't last long. "No more sleeping Aria."

Her blank, dreamless sleep was interrupted and even though she still only saw black she felt all of the pain that ran from head to toe. She buried herself further into the pillow that she was hugging and groaned. Jack tapped her leg with the back of his hand. "It's already 5:30 so get up."

She pushed herself into a sitting position but was slumped forward and rubbed her eyes. Jack stood over her with his arms crossed. "Alright now are you going to get dress or are you planning on leaving the house in someone else's clothes?"

Arianna resisted the urge to glance down at herself at the mention of her choice in sleepwear. She knew she was wearing a short sleeved yellow shirt that had black sleeves and collar and a black Hearts Jolly Roger. In short, it was the shirt Law had thrown at her days ago. Instead she frowned at him but stood up, using her now stiff muscles made it feel like her legs were being torn in half. "Ugh… Ed rindc…" (It hurts…")

"You should stretch, you'll feel better."

She didn't need him to tell her that and was already stretching herself up as much as she could, the shirt she had been sleeping in lifted up and the bottom of her black panties peeked out. Jack was clinking around in the kitchen making coffee so she half walked, half waddled to the bathroom to get changed only to realize that she didn't actually have clothes. With a sigh she turned to leave the little room but Jack was on the other side of the door holding out a small pile clothes.

She took them from him. "Thank you."

She closed the door without much else and lifted the shirt she was wearing as gingerly as possible since she felt like her whole body was just a mass of bruises and muscle so tightly tensed her limbs shouldn't be capable of functioning. Still, the girl did her best to ignore the pain and got ready in as much of a rush as physically possible at the moment. She had slept in later than normal and didn't want to be the one to delay Jack opening Pancakes and Shortcakes.

When she got out of the bathroom and met him downstairs he looked at her with the same bored expression that he almost always wears. "That is the last of the clothes from your bag so you'll need to pick some up today."

"I know." She lazily consented and grabbed her backpack which seemed to be ready to explode from having clothes haphazardly shoved in rather than folded. She will have to spend time at the ship after work today and do some of her laundry as well since she was doubtful that she had spare clean clothes to exchange her dirty ones out with.

She moved half asleep through the mostly empty streets and sidewalk behind Jack and he glanced back at her more than a few times. "When did you get back last night?"

She yawned before answering. "…One I think."

"That's not that bad."

Jack worked at The Ripper's House open to close six days a week so he wasn't even getting home until almost three in the morning. "How do you act so normal only getting two hours of sleep almost every night?"

"I nap in between work when I can swing it. Besides, going through life on such little sleep is what gives me my calm demeanor." He joked. It was too early and she was too tired for jokes.

"Are both of your places closed tomorrow?" She was somewhat hopeful to have an excuse to not work the morning.

"No, they're open. I just won't be working. You won't have to either"

She felt like she would kiss the man in that moment. Morning lover or not she wanted nothing more than to sleep in to at least eight.

()

Law woke up on the eighth day clear headed and well rested. He took the night off from "playing around with the crew" as he called it and felt better for it. He took his time taking a morning shower and getting dressed in his usual pants and a plain black shirt only to pull his sweater over it and push the sleeves up. Law grabbed his hat and sword on his way out of the bedroom and went downstairs to knock on Bepo's door. The bear answered but still had clear bed-fur, half closed eyes and flannel pajamas that fit him perfectly, the existence of which still surprised Law. "Good morning Captain."

"I'm going to go out for breakfast, want to come?"

Bepo perked up instantly. "Yes, I'll get ready!"

Since his companion was going to scurry around for a little bit before being ready Law went to the deck and waited in the morning air. As expected Bepo was out within five minutes so the pair walked through the city in a direct path to the small café the Arianna was working at. They had not gone there at that time of the day before and unfortunately the building was packed so tightly that there was absolutely no way they would be able to sit down. "Maybe we should wait?" Bepo asked.

"Let's just keep walking for now, I haven't seen further in the city yet." Law answered. It was odd considering how long they had been on the island but the pirate captain hadn't explored it to the extent that he would normally like. It was probably because of how much time they had that he continuously waited to do so. For over a week now there had been a strange combination of feeling quick and empty. If he was asked what he did, he wouldn't really have an answer to give but he also wouldn't say that he had free time since landing. It almost made him miss the boring islands with nothing to do.

"Want to go see what is around the water tower?" The bear asked.

He looked at it and felt a sense of curiosity. "Sure."

The structure in question was placed at the furthest end of the city and the closer the pair came to it the more pirate-influenced the streets seemed to be until they passed all of the empty brick buildings that now housed fight clubs and gambling halls and entered the streets that were lined with buildings of varying degrees of quality filled with women. There was a particular feel and smell to the area that advertised what occurs all around them if the shameless grunts and moans that were occurring despite only being nine in the morning weren't obvious enough. Law looked back at Bepo, whom seemed to be fidgety and glanced around himself embarrassed. "You okay?"

He jumped slightly. "Yes! It's just this kind of place is a bit much on me…"

"Let's just keep moving." Law said, verbally ushering his companion along.

To Bepo's relief the Houses didn't continue on much closer to the water tower. Instead once they were through all of them the buildings appeared to be completely abandoned with the exception of rats and a surprising amount of corpses. Law continued forward with a highly enticed sense of intrigue and continued deeper. "What's been happening here?"

"I don't know but it doesn't smell like any of them are old."

The man looked back at him before closing in on a body to examine it. "This one looks like he died last night."

The bear ran to another body. "He smells like he did too."

Despite the number of pirate crews that were all over the city Law couldn't help be a bit concerned that Arianna was somehow involved in all of this.

"Captain, I don't think Ari-chan would kill any of these people. Why would she?" His suspicion must have shown on his face so the pirate captain tried to adjust his expression to be more neutral.

"Hey! What are you two doing here?" There was a female voice calling out to them. When they turned the woman in question had long muddy brown hair and a face of freckles that showed her youth despite appearing to be an adult. An adult she most certainly was though if how she was dressed was any indicator: a long yet thin dress that hugged her body as it was actually an undergarment.

"Sorry! We were just exploring." Bepo answered with a nervous panic and Law frowned with a slight groan at his use of the word exploring. Somehow it felt like a childish explanation when they were wandering around in a city.

The freckled woman ran up into Law's personal space and inspected him with squinted eyes and a finger on her chin. "Hmm… You look familiar…" She looked him up and down again then focused in on his hat. "Oh! You're Trafalgar Law, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

The girl trotted backwards like an overly excited puppy. "Wow, lucky me! Oh, what am I saying, focus focus!" Upon her own command she refocused her gaze on the pirates. "We should all get out of here. The police and some Marines will be coming in any minute to check out the dead and I doubt you want to be around when that happens."

"How would they know to come out here?" Law questioned.

"This happens every night. The pirates all start fighting with each other out here so some are bound to die right?" She answered with a sense of normalcy that would make it hard to doubt that this was anything but a nightly occurrence.

"So why are you here?" Bepo asked.

"Just looking for survivors. The officers can be lazy about their search and someone could die while waiting for a rescue. I'm Cat by the way." She said with a cheery smile and an exuding sense of charisma. This is a woman who dealt with people often.

"Hello, I'm Bepo." The bear naturally introduced himself after hearing the woman do so.

They began their return walk into the House district so Law probed a bit for information regarding the area of death. "Why are pirates killing each other only out here?"

"They aren't but this is the only place that there aren't a bunch of people to stop the fighting and it's a pretty uncontrolled in this part of town. Since so many people die out there and the corpses sit for a little while everyone calls it the Graveyard." Cat explained.

When the little group was in front of a particularly well-kept whore-house with two stories and a Victorian appearance the woman was greeted by another pair of girls, though they appeared more adult like. "How strange, usually the men you bring home in the mornings aren't walking themselves to our door." The tall, willowy woman with long blonde pulled away by a blue ribbon said.

"Ellie, Mary, guess what?! This is Trafalgar Law and Bepo!" Cat said proudly, causing the two pirates to glance at each other with a raised brow.

"Well obviously." The third woman, a curvaceous ginger woman with brown eyes, said.

The blonde stepped closer and looked like she was going to touch his face but restrained herself and returned her hand to her hip at the slight sharpening of his eyes. "Mmm. I must say, she really did play it down when she told us you were more attractive than your poster showed. My name is Elizabeth but feel free to call me Ellie. That is Mary Ann and you've already met Catherine."

The little freckled faced woman crossed her arms and snorted. "Ugh, don't call me Catherine. You make me feel like you're talking to my grandmother."

The women seemed to forget the two pirates were there and started chattering amongst themselves over Cat being named after her relative so Law spoke to bring them back to reality. "Who have you been talking to?"

"Aria of course." All three answered in unison.

Law had to hold in a shocked stutter when he spoke. "Arianna comes here?"

"Ari-chan coming to a place like this… No she wouldn't… She is okay with women but…" Bepo was murmuring in shock behind him.

Cat spoke up to clarify. "She's a friend of ours so we all meet up when we can."

Mary crossed her arms and huffed. "Despite our best efforts to get her upstairs…"

Bepo's ears perked and his eyes widened. "What?"

The ginger's expression turned to one that could only be described as thirsty. "The more that cute little girl resists the more I want to throw her down and desecrate that pretty petite body of hers."

"Yeah…" The other two sighed in agreement.

_*Something tells me these women aren't suffering in their occupation…*_ Law thought, for the first time feeling slightly concerned for the sanctity of his only female subordinate. He decided he didn't want to continue the conversation as he was finding it surprisingly uncomfortable.

"We're leaving." He announced to the women just as much as Bepo.

The bear released a breath to indicate his relief but Cat wrapped her arms around one of Law's to stop him. "Hold on!"

He looked back at her intending to glare and make her let go but the mischievous glint in her youthful face and brown hair was strikingly similar to Arianna and it made him take a mental double take.

"If you see Aria, do you think you could send her our way?"

The question put him back in his pace. "No." He answered with a yank on his arm.

"Why not? It's not like you play with her." The brunette argued.

Mary aggressively covered Cat's mouth with her arms. "Don't speak so insensitively!" She then looked up at Law with a friendly smile. "We don't want to _play_ with her. We just want to hear her cry while beggi-"

Thanks to Elizabeth using her ribbon as a gag the red haired woman never finished the sentence. "You aren't allowed to talk anymore."

The now gagged woman groaned in annoyance.

"We'll see you around, maybe…" The only one of the three who apparently had any level of self control said to give the pirates their chance to escape.

"I doubt it." Law said without concern.

The two more wild women were being ushered back into the house when the blonde looked over her shoulder and spoke again. "Also please tell that Kalas fellow to stop bringing dresses for our girls to wear. It's bothersome."

Law reddened slightly at being affiliated with the man.

()

Before they even reached the building Arianna could feel Law and Bepo approach again with her Sense. While they walked closer she poured a cup of black coffee and a pitcher of ice water, set them down at an empty table and gave the cook an order of an omelet filled with diced peppers and spinach with a small bowl of oatmeal as well as an extremely large bowl of scrambled eggs with shredded ham mixed in. Sure enough they walked in so she pointed to the table she had ready for them. Bepo began drinking in big gulps while Law seemed to enjoy his coffee rather than just drink it. "Good morning!" She did feel a bit happier seeing them there.

"Good morning Ari-chan." The bear seemed to be feeling refreshed after his drink.

"What are you guys up to?" She had time at the moment so she wanted to stick around and talk to them.

"Just out walking." Law answered while glancing around. He seemed weird, like something was bothering him.

"Looking for Jack? He's helping in the kitchen today." She informed.

"No, a menu."

"Why? You know I put in an order for you before you even come in."

"Thank you." Bepo said with a grateful smile.

"You don't trust us to choose our own meals?" Law asked with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"I know what you guys like and you get your food faster, so what's the problem?" She put her hands on her hips as she spoke. She then heard a voice call out from the kitchen. "Aria, order up!"

"I'll be right back." She said and returned to working. Unfortunately it wasn't her captain's and first mate's breakfasts, it was the sandwiches that another table had ordered. She loaded her large plastic tray up with the plates and walked them over to the proper table.

"Here you are!" She said with a very practiced smile and tone as she placed the plates down in front of a couple. "Do you need anything else?"

"No thank you sweetheart." The woman said and she turned to return to Law but saw that there was a pair of men settling into the table just behind Bepo and in front of Law.

"Hello, I'm Leya. Would you like to start with a drink now or would you like some time to look things over?" She kept up her practiced server mask and introduced with her adult name since she didn't intend to see them outside the cafe.

The men smiled in a way that made her feel like slime was slipping down her spine. "We'll look things over but before that I have a question. Does your service end at closing?"

She couldn't stop the confused look that took over her face. "We are not going to kick everyone out when we close?" She said it as a question since she wasn't sure that it was what they meant.

They seemed to laugh at her answer making her feel a bit unsure how to handle the situation. They were annoying and she got a creepy feeling from them but at the same time they were customers so she couldn't be rude to them or just walk away from answering their question. The room felt intensely colder and they suddenly paled and started laughing nervously. "Thank you!" One said in a rush while glancing behind her.

She peeked behind her too now. Law was glaring fiercely at the customers. _*I get that they're obviously creeps but you don't need to scare them over service questions. It's my job to…* _She stopped short of finishing the thought and mentally face palmed at her own slowness on the matter.

She replaced her server mask but her eyes now had a darker shade to them as she fought with herself to do so. She wanted to throw them out of the building. "Wave me over when you are ready to order."

"Aria, order!" She heard Jack from the kitchen. When she went to retrieve the food, this time it was Law and Bepo's, the red head stopped her.

"What's going on out there?" Jack was no slouch with Haki so it wasn't much of a surprise that he noticed something happening.

"Just some rude customers." She answered.

The man looked at her blankly for a second then pulled her cheeks. "Don't scare away my customers."

"I'm not!" She tried to say through a stretch face.

"Tell your captain that that applies to him as well." He said as he let go.

"I don't think tugging his face apart and making demands will work on him…" Even though she said it she wanted to see him try; mostly because she wanted to see Law lose his mind. He was always so calm and controlled it made him a bit boring so how could ripping off that controlled behavior not be a good idea?

"True but I can deny his business or add something to his food."

Arianna rolled her eyes and began her return trip with the egg dishes and oatmeal. The creepy men were nowhere to be seen. She didn't need to wear her server mask when she brought the pair of pirates their food, her smile was sincere. "Here you go."

Bepo was practically drooling over the large bowl in front of him that was usually used for mixing large quantities of ingredients rather than serving food but didn't hesitate to grab the large spoon placed in it for him to start eating. Law didn't even look at his plate, just her. "What?"

"You were going to play along with those two." He looked _angry _at her.

She sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm working, so unless they actually try anything I have to be polite."

His frown deepened.

"Thanks for taking care of them though." She really was appreciative and it showed in her toothy grin.

Law looked like he wanted to hold on to the issue but because it was clear that it was no longer relevant he sighed and his shoulders drooped slightly as a visual sign of him relaxing. He took his first bite of the omelet and seemed content to just eat so she resumed her job as a waitress. Well, she would have had there been any work for her to do. All the customers had been attended to by Nora, the other waitress, and she had already completely caught up on the maintenance tasks as well. Arianna was trying to decide if she should start sweeping and closing up despite there still being another hour before they actually close but was certain that would upset Jack. Calm as he is, he's still a business man.

"Get changed." Apparently the man had escaped the kitchen.

"What?" She asked, totally confused.

"We are too slow to keep both of you and Nora here so go get changed and I'll cash out your share for the day."

On one hand it seemed irresponsible to leave only two employees and the owner to close up, on the other hand she _really _didn't care for staying that extra hour. Not waiting for him to tell her a third time, Arianna went into the back room and changed into her regular clothes. When she returned to the main floor she saw Jack going through the receipts that get printed out when the customers pay and making note of where Arianna was left a tip. He was rather fast at the process so it barely took him the amount of time she needed to get changed and when she sat down with Law and Bepo, who had finished eating the tall red head joined them at the table and handed the beri over to the girl. She didn't bother to count it, knowing that Jack wouldn't purposely short her and not caring if he did by accident, and pushed it directly into her pocket. Law watched her do this and was probably expecting her to hand it directly over to him but she needed it first.

"Would you like a refill on your coffee?" Nora approached the table for the first time and spoke to Law.

He peered down at his now empty cup. "Yes."

"Get me one too Nora."

She smiled playfully. "Sure thing, Boss. Aria, would you like one as well?"

Before she could answer Jack did for her. "No she doesn't."

She puffed up in a pout. "Maybe I do."

Law looked at her with doubt. "Have you ever had coffee?"

She thought for a second. "Nope."

There was a sigh across the table. "…And that is exactly why you aren't allowed to drink any."

"What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with new things." Bepo asked.

"Yeah!" Arianna agreed loudly for being indoors.

"Someone who is so sensitive that she gets sugar highs really should stay away from caffeine anyways." Law said.

Jack scoffed. "Trust me a sugar high is nothing. Aria _has_ had coffee. She was awake for three days straight and spent the first one almost delusional."

The girl growled slightly. "I'm sure I'd remember that happening!"

"You were running up and down the streets for hours trying to race the horses and I'm pretty sure I saw you run into at least five walls at full speed."

"Oh, Ari-chan…" Bepo sounded embarrassed for her. Or maybe it was for being friends with her.

Law looked at her with a neutral expression but his eyes seemed examining. "Repeated head injuries from even before we met you would explain a lot."

She felt herself blush slightly. "What about me needs to be explained?"

Law didn't even acknowledge the question and looked back to Jack. "What happened the other two days?"

"She seemed a bit closer to normal but was still hyper then suddenly dropped in the middle of the road, dead asleep."

"I still don't think that happened." Arianna defended herself.

"You slept for two days straight after that. Rather than try to remember what you did, think about finding some weird gap where you can't remember anything." He told her as he sipped his cursed black drink.

She leaned back in her chair and concentrated. _*A gap in my memories?* _She felt certain that they were all there. The days seemed to run together since they were fairly routine but she was still certain that there was nothing that stuck out. Nothing except that one day she woke up feeling incredibly hung over, which was entirely surprising since she hasn't been drunk in a long time. She couldn't remember drinking the previous night… What did she do the previous night?

Arianna opened her eyes and allowed gravity to slam her head down against the table.

"What wrong Arianna? Is it coming back?" She was certain she could hear a tone that usually came when one was on the verge of laughing in Law's voice.

She turned her head slightly to show him her annoyed frown.

"It's okay Ari-chan, I won't tell anyone." Bepo tried to make her feel better.

"I might." Law apparently wanted her to feel worse. "You would do well to behave."

She sat upright with her arms crossed. "I have been behaving!"

"As far as we know but you are unpredictable." Even though he said that he didn't sound like he disliked it, at least not as much as he used to.

It felt like a high note of conversation but Arianna had already formulated a plan for her newly acquired free time. "I'm going to go."

"Where are you going?" Bepo asked.

"I want to see some friends before they start their work then I'll go back to the ship." She answered.

There was a strange moment of both Law and Bepo stiffening and sparing a glance to each other but neither said anything so Arianna figured that they didn't want to share. She got up close to her captain with a smirk. "What was that look about?"

He leaned away slightly and had a visible frown. "Nothing."

She straightened back up with a chuckle. "I thought you were a _good_ liar."

His yellow eyes seemed to light up slightly as if he took her words as a challenge. "We are just surprised to hear that you have any friends. I was simply trying to be nice since you've been staying out of trouble since we've been here. You have been, haven't you?"

The question made her scratch the right side of her chin and look up, squeezing one eye shut. "I think so. No one has gone to the ship yelling about me right?"

Law breathed out a sigh but there was a hint of a smile. "I take it that means my answer should be not yet."

Bepo sighed. "Ari-chan…"

She shuffled backwards a bit, ready to make her escape. "I'm being extra nice while I'm out; I promise."

Law looked at her like he didn't believe her, Bepo was chuckling slightly. "Bye Ari-chan."

"Bye!" She announced as she left. Jack echoed the word back while Law lifted his hand slightly to signal a farewell.

Arianna wasted no more time in running out of the building and using the water tower as her guidepost, she hurried off to visit Cat, Ellie and Mary. It was an easy trek but once she got close to the adult only district she stopped. The girl swung her backpack in front of her and reached in to it to pull out a red cloth bandana that she purposely placed on top just in case she could get the opportunity to go see her friends. Arianna tied the bandana over her face to cover her mouth and most importantly her nose. Of course the cloth couldn't completely shield her from the smells of the area but it did help make it bearable.

She made a hurried beeline down the street until she found the correct building. "Cat!" She called when she spotted the fellow brunette.

"Ah! Aria!" She shouted in joy and practically tackled the visiting woman, smushing their cheeks together in a tight hug.

The two girls giggled in their excited greeting ritual and walked into the first floor of the House which actually served as a tavern/showroom where the ladies would perform and entertain guests to entice customers. There were some men already in the room, drinking various alcohols while women sat in their laps and talk to them. The whole idea of the business was still strange to Arianna but she had long since pushed that thought away for the sake of not insulting her friends. "Here sit, sit." Cat pushed her to a chair and snuggled closely on her lap. It felt comical since Arianna was the smaller of the two, though not by much.

While Arianna was more than welcoming for physical affection she was embarrassed by their location and could feel eyes from the customers on her. "Cat, you know I'm just here to visit as a friend."

"Shh…" A voice said from behind her and the pirate girl knew it was Mary coming behind her; the ginger woman placed her fingers on the edge of the bandana. "Stick around, we might be able to change your mind."

Arianna rolled her eyes and readied herself to get up. "If you two are going to be like that I'm just going to say hi to Ellie and leave."

"NO! We'll be good!" Cat said.

"Yeah. Promise!" Mary added, both hugged her tightly to lock her in her chair.

"Then perhaps you two should detach yourselves from her and sit in your own chairs." Their blond friend said as she pulled a fourth chair to the table the other three were at.

"Fine…" They said in disappointment and everyone sat in a chair of their own.

"I'm surprised you're here. He said he wasn't going to tell you to come by." Ellie said ambiguously.

"Who?" Arianna asked though she had a bad feeling about the answer.

"Your captain." Mary said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Which reminds me, you were totally lying. He's WAY hotter than he is in his poster." Cat added on.

Arianna brushed past her friend's opinion and focused more on the fact that Law and Bepo had met these three. She wasn't sure if she should be interested or horrified. She enjoyed her friends company, for the most part, but their behavior might shock others. "I won't ask about anything else but please tell me you guys didn't gang up on him."

"Don't worry, don't worry. We just talked with him a little bit." Mary told her.

"We didn't say much to him, just that we were your friends." Ellie informed her.

Arianna narrowed her eyes slightly. "Law and Bepo seemed weird when I saw them just before coming here. Are you sure there wasn't more?"

"We made are intentions with you clear." Mary revealed.

"When are you three going to give that up?" Arianna asked; she felt a bit tired of their half jokes on the subject.

"Elizabeth! You've got a customer." It was a woman in her fifties, who still had the air of the beautiful courtesan that she had once been, that yelled. The man beside her looked dirty and in his thirties; he who looked fresh out of the sea.

"Damn that Max." Mary complained slightly about the Madam in charge of the girls in the House. Maxine to the girls, Max to people who knew her personally though many of the ladies she watched over called her Max when speaking to each other.

Ellie smiled hopefully at Arianna before going to start her work. "To answer your question: we'll give it up when someone else offers to be our knight in shining armor and take us out of this district."

Though the comment was meant to be one of gratitude it felt more like a gut shot. When Arianna met them they were working in a less than well managed establishment. She convinced Jack to use his pull in the city to have their current place take in the three friends. Arianna had played with the idea of taking them off the island with her when she left but that would likely only leave them in a place as bad or worse as where she found them. At least under Max's care they had physical protection, three meals a day and a bed to sleep in every night.

With their disciplinarian gone for an indefinite amount of time Cat and Mary were free to say everything that crossed their minds. Unsurprising to Arianna, Mary was the first to take advantage. "Would you be angry if I took you're captain for a run?"

She felt like she should have known better but Arianna took her question rather literally. "I've never seen Law run without a reason, so good luck getting him to do that."

Cat laughed at her while Mary grabbed her face and hugged her tightly to her chest. "You're so innocent!"

Arianna couldn't breathe so she squirmed until she was released.

"I want to sleep with him. He looks like a man who knows what he's doing." The ginger woman tried again.

The subject instantly felt exceedingly uncomfortable. "Can't you just keep that to yourself?"

"Nope; you've known him for longer so you have the right to tell us to stay away." Cat said as if it was common knowledge.

Arianna couldn't contain her frown. "Even if you say that it's really not my business. I don't have the right to be concerned with his, um… personal life."

"But you are part of his personal life." Cat argued.

"Not really. I'm in his crew and I think of him as an important part of my Family but I'm pretty sure he just tolerates me. He won't even let me touch him unless necessary. None of the other guys care when I hug or sit with them. He still won't let me lead him somewhere without having something to say about me grabbing his hand." Even Arianna could hear the shades of annoyance in her own voice when she spoke.

"You're definitely thinking about this all wrong." Mary said with a voice of absolute conviction.

Arianna gave her a questioning look.

"You love physical contact and affection; it's part of how you define that you have a relationship with others right?" The woman began.

The young huntress nodded in agreement.

"He's probably just the type of guy who doesn't like unnecessary contact. Touch is probably something reserved for people he really, _really _loves."

"He's always leaning on Bepo and he'll even pet him sometimes." Arianna didn't even realize the spite she felt about it until she heard herself.

"You can't expect a man to treat women the same as he would a male friend or pet." Cat said.

"Bepo's not a pet, he's Law's best friend." The huntress corrected.

"Not the point…" Cat sounded disappointed.

"You said you saw Law right before coming here. Did you go to see him or did he see you?"

"They've been to Pancakes and Shortcakes every day for three days in a row."

"So he does want to spend time with you." Mary said so with a feeling of triumph.

"I buy his food for him." Arianna revealed.

"Don't make excuses. It takes a lot more effort to go into town and find a free meal than to just eat at home with food that had already been bought." Cat said.

"I guess…" She didn't want to be too hopeful that maybe Law did like her company. She certainly enjoyed his, but another thought occurred to her. "How did we get to whether or not Law just tolerates me? We were definitely talking about something else."

"Not important. If you want to know for sure why not ask him to go with you tonight?" Cat brushed off her question.

"I don't want to trouble him. I really want to get through an island without angering him." Arianna said with a sigh.

"Who are you to say it would trouble him? You have fun, he probably will too. Someone doesn't wander into the Graveyard without immediately turning back if they don't have at least some sense of excitement. Plus, who has more adventure in them than a pirate captain?" The taller brunette argued.

"What would asking hurt?" Mary cajoled.

Arianna hummed in defeat. "Fine."

"That's the spirit! Now get to it!" Cat said pulling her up.

"Now?"

"Do it now before you change your mind." Mary ordered with an unnecessary and unwarranted smack to her butt.

"But-"

"No, go!" The two ladies said.

()

After Arianna left the café Law didn't spend much time there. He ate and left for the library while Bepo decided to go and see what some of the other men were up to. After a week of searching he finally found something related to what he was had been looking for. In a book that was not so much a book as it was a journal the cover had a stamp from a certain kingdom. The oldest date in it was only thirty years earlier and it seemed to be mostly empty. There was a name on the inside cover that Law did not recognize: Azara Felix as well as a message written beneath, "Please finish my research." On the first page the passage told of how a man and the pirate crew he was a part of came a across a type of ship none of them had ever seen filled with people that did not speak a words they recognized and dressed in wraps of cloth and/or furs and leathers. The way the people were described felt exceedingly familiar and he immediately thought of Arianna in her furs and full body leather hunting outfit. There seemed to only be a few pages of information in the book beyond that. _*That's probably why he wrote for someone to finish this, his so called research is pitifully short.*_

Law closed the journal feeling tricked because it actually had nothing related to what he was looking for but also a little intrigued considering what it did have so he tossed it aside on top of his removed hoodie and continued on looking through the rest of the books. After about seven other useless books there was another journal that appeared to be potentially helpful but after skimming through the pages it seemed that there was not anything in it that he did not know. In all of those books it was actually amazing that he could not find a single bit of new information on Dressrosa. He wasn't optimistic enough to hope for a map with the island's location but he would have liked to find at least a mention of the kingdom beyond the fact that it existed. It was entirely frustrating and he couldn't deal with anymore disappointment in his search for the day so he took his hat and grabbed the bundle that was his sweater and left the building with a bit of an internal huff.

He felt somewhat hungry so Law ended up returning to the ship for a late lunch-early dinner kind of meal. There was a surprisingly decent number of crewmembers in the sub, apparently everyone was in the mood for a more relaxing atmosphere than they'd get in town. Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that Arianna was working in the kitchen with Thomas and Austin. She was the last person he expected to be on the ship.

Law walked over to the serving window between the kitchen and the rest of the galley, the three inside were cleaning up from what appeared to have been a late lunch. "Is there anything I can have?"

"Captain? Sorry I didn't think you would be coming by so early. I'll make you something now." The chef seemed embarrassed at his mistake.

While Thomas starting putting something together for him Arianna slipped out of the kitchen and to his side. "Law, will you go out with me tonight?"

Austin began choking on the water he was drinking and Law looked at her with suspicion. "What are you planning?"

"I was going to take you with me on my usual nightly games. You were curious before weren't you? Besides, it'll be fun!" She ended her answer with a bright smile.

Law considered his options: go with her for the night or try and scrap together something semi-entertaining to pass the evening. "Is going with you really going to be worth my time?"

"Well you won't know unless you come." She reasoned.

Law sighed but there was a slight smile to it. "Fine, but if it ends up being a waste of my night there's going to be a penalty."

She frowned a bit at that. "Why can't you just move on with your day if something happens you don't like?"

"Because getting even makes me happy." He said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to take a nap. We should leave at ten."

"I take it wherever we're going we need to be there at morning than." He jabbed.

"Ha ha… I can get us there without a problem." She didn't seem to find the humor in his words like he did.

"We'll see." He played.

Arianna stuck out her tongue but gave up the banter and left the galley.

"Captain… Are you really going on a date with Arianna?" Thomas asked.

Law blinked, a bit surprised. "Is that what it sounded like?" It certainly wasn't how he considered it.

"100%" Both Thomas and Austin answered.

"At least she's too oblivious to think of it like that." Now that the thought is in his head however he was a bit concerned. She did know it wasn't a date, right?

()

Arianna fell asleep the moment she went to her bed and frankly did not wake back up until she was woken up. Due to her exhaustion she failed to be stirred by the opening of her door but when the intruder was reaching for her the little Warrior's reflex took over. She spun herself around and grabbed the hand that had invaded her space and used her hold on it to throw the person on her bed. She released her Hunter's Blade and threw her palm to stab him only to realize that the intruder was Law. She stopped the blade just shy of piercing his eye. They stayed there, Law on his back on her bed and Arianna straddling him as she nearly blinded him in one of his eyes, for a few breaths before she jumped back in a panic. "Sorry, sorry! I was completely asleep and I… I'm sorry."

Law sat up and adjusted his hat. "Let's just go."

Arianna nodded and turned to collect her backpack which was still stuffed to the brim with her dirty clothes so she dumped it and pulled the money she earned earlier that day as well as the red bandana. The money went in her bag but she tied the cloth around her neck as she followed him out of the room then off the ship. She let him lead the way through the dock and into town but afterwards she moved in front of him and walked directly to towards her usual destination. The street was very busy and she had to do her best to avoid the crowds of jovial men and women. The people paid her little mind and she glided in between them fairly well but when they reached an area that was particularly packed with people it was becoming more difficult to avoid the random pirates, Marines and miscellaneous sailors who almost seemed to be intentionally bumping into one another. A tall and bulky man who was dressed vaguely like a naval officer actually shoved her back as he walked by her and she went backwards into Law's chest. He's body gave slightly at the impact but he stood his ground without being moved back himself.

Arianna glanced up to see his face, her captain was glaring at the Marine with clear spite who in turn faced him with a mocking sneer, ready to start a fight. At this rate they really weren't going to make it through the city before the morning so with a bit of an indignant huff directed at the stranger she grabbed Law's hand and dragged him forward, shoving the Marine out of her way with enough force to send him into other people and give him someone else to be an asshole to. "You shouldn't back down from people like that, especially not a Marine and never when you wear our symbol." Law sternly.

She didn't stop walking but she did put her free hand over the gray Smiling Virus that was on display across the front of her blue shirt. "Sorry. I just didn't want us to get held up. We need to hurry or we'll miss some of the fun."

Law picked up the pace so he was walking beside her rather than behind her as they forced their way through the crowd. "Where exactly are we going?"

She smiled excitedly up at him though he didn't seem to share in her enthusiasm. "There…" She answered pointing up to the large water tower that stood on stilts.

"An old abandoned space…" He said, sounding more like he was speaking to himself.

_*He's being odd.* _She thought. "Are you okay? You've been weird since you woke me up."

Apparently the mention of his own behavior made him notice that she was right because it was only now that he seemed to realize that he had not yet acted on the fact that she was pulling him along by his hand again. Law detached her from him and moved his sword to that side, creating a barrier between them. "Why did you want me to come with you?"

Arianna felt a little shy at the question; she couldn't think of a good way to explain her earlier conversation with her friends. "I like having fun with you and wanted to see if you did too."

Law continued to eye her suspiciously.

"I mean, it's no secret that even though you sort of like everyone on the crew most aren't actually your friends but I think of you as a friend and I was worried you just kind of tolerate me so…"

"So you wanted to see how I would react to being alone with you without it being for a specific purpose." He finished her explanation for her.

"Yeah. I mean, we're so different, especially in how we treat people we like so I feel like when I'm being friendly you just get upset." The girl felt foolish has she verbalized her feelings.

"It's fifty-fifty." He said just before he resumed his stride.

"Huh?" Arianna was completely dumbfounded in his remark.

"Half of the time I like having you around the other half I just tolerate it." He spoke in such a nonchalant manner that she felt even more foolish.

"Okay, if you don't actually dislike being around me than why are you being so weird?" She asked her question again.

"It's nothing." He brushed her off.

"Well now I really want to know." She said.

"Too bad."

"Aw… Come on, I always answer your questions." She pushed.

"Careful, you're pushing that fifty-fifty ratio to sixty-forty." He warned.

"That sixty is on the side where you like having me around right?" She jokingly asked, though she knew the answer.

He didn't say anything but a relaxed smile did make its way to his expression.

"I was really surprised when you agreed to come though. I was kind of worried you might have mistaken this for a date."

"You mean you _do _know that it isn't?" There was a hint of smugness to his words.

"Of course! Didn't you know? When a Tribesman court a possible mate we don't talk to them or spend any time with them." There was an obvious feeling of joking in her tone and words.

"Oh? So what do you do?" Apparently Law was willing to play along.

She thought for a quick second and remembered a specie bird she saw years ago. "First we call the mate over with chirps and growls then when we are alone together the one who made the calls will dance around the other." To further emphasis her fictional explanation she did a couple of stomping steps with some arm gestures that really are part of a dance that Tribes do perform.

"And then what?" Surprisingly Law pushed her forward. Was he hoping she'd run out of fake information to give him?

"Well, if the possible mate likes what he or she sees then they get right to mating." Even though she was giving a make believe lesson she felt embarrassed about the ending.

Law definitely noticed it too, if his smirk was any indicator at least. "I'm not quite sure what you mean by mating. Could you explain it a bit better?"

"Um, well…" As if to make things even more awkward they just entered the adult only district and she was assaulted with the sounds and smells of sex. Arianna quickly pulled the bandana over her face before even attempting to continue with their conversation. "It's what is happening all around us."

La seemed to revel in her discomfort. "You know what? Now that I think about it you definitely do deserve a reward for all of your hard work for the crew. Maybe I should lend you some money so that you can spend some time with your friends. Cat and Mary I believe were particularly interested in spending more time with you."

Assuming the goal was to make her as uncomfortable as possible, the implication of her having sex with anyone was very effective. "N-No! No thanks." She almost couldn't get the words out in the correct language.

"Are you sure? You seem to crave physical affection like a puppy." He teased.

"Skin-ship and romantic affection are different." She tried to argue.

"Says the girl who cuddles up to men like we are all you're teddy bears."

"I don't know what that is but it doesn't matter. I don't go around mating with strangers like you guys do."

"No? So you just kiss the ones you think are strong?"

"That wasn't a kiss and how long are you going to hold on to that?"

"Until you prove me wrong." The mock in his words was horribly obvious. He seemed certain that this was something he was going to get to bring up as long as he so wished. She groaned from behind her bandana and pressed on in silence though there was a clear air of smugness around her captain.

There was a flow of people passing through the final entertainment area of the city and into the Graveyard. The energy coming off of Law shifted and his good humor seemed to diminish as he glanced around at the other people. "What are we walking into?"

"Ryder's biggest business." She answered vaguely since she didn't want to actually give it away.

"It's a fighting arena isn't it?" He guessed.

"Dang… I was hoping to surprise you when we get there." Arianna complained slightly.

"You've been fighting in this arena for money?" He questioned her, sounding a shade unhappy.

"No. There are no weapons allowed for the fighters so I was never good enough to even get an invitation." Her shame shone through her tone.

"Invitation?" Thankfully that was what Law attached to out of her statement.

"Yep. To make sure the fights are close and exciting Ryder scouts out people at the other clubs in town and invites the really strong ones to fight in his club. Anyone can watch but people only find out about it through other people. I only know about it because Jack brought me once."

"Are you betting on the fights?" His voice was controlled which did not bode well for her.

"It's only betting if there's a chance you'd lose." She tried.

Law gave an audible sigh then watched her harshly. "Prove it."

"That _was _the plan." She said with a confident smile.

()

Law let the girl lead him through the unfamiliar part of town and through a building adjacent to the run down water tower. Inside was a large and noisy crowd that was made up mostly of both pirates and Marines. He held on tightly to his nodachi as he watched the people around but otherwise maintained a relaxed demeanor. Arianna moved from his side to stand behind him so close that he could feel the warmth from her body as she in a very obvious way watched his back. She herself seemed completely at easy and relaxed; it made him certain that despite the highly threatening crowd they stood in, the pair was not in any immediate danger. The mass of people focused in a single direction at the opening of a door. Law had expected to see Ryder but instead it was a large man in dress pants and suspenders, one of the business man's employees. The people began to push their way in through the door and the two Heart Pirates passed through as well and onto a wooden plank that did not seem sturdy enough to hold one person, let alone ten dozen. The plank led to a split just at the base of the container, one path let to a lower doorway while the other was a staircase that led to a second doorway. The majority of people seemed to be going up the stairs and when Law got a little closer he could hear shouting over the general conversations of the crowd. "Spectators go up, fighters present your invitation!"

Without much choice in the matter, Law walked up the stairs and found that he had entered a large spacious area with people crammed against each other in elevated steel stands spiraled around the entire tank that kept all the observers at a high level while a smaller crowd of people gathered at the bottom floor around a large ring designated by a waist high metal wall. Law looked at the participants and recognized a majority of them as high bounty pirates, the lowest bounty of them was 200,000,000 while the highest was actually 430,000,000 beri. It was also highly likely that a large number of the people in the stands around him were crewmembers of those pirates. The whole arena was like a pressure trigger bomb, waiting to cause devastating destruction at the slightest touch. The danger and craziness of the whole situation made him smile and he half hoped that this bomb would explode just so he could test himself against this crowd.

His thoughts must have been written across his face because Arianna tapped him to get his attention. "Remember, we have to behave here. After all, we don't want to upset anyone and get the whole crew involved."

Law chuckled, surprising even himself, and smirked dangerously at her. "I'm the one who will get final say on that."

She smirked back at him, able to see his mood. "I'm just telling you how I've been handling this place." Then she frowned more seriously. "All of the violence is directed to the fights for now but once it's over there are a lot of angry pirates and Marines. Sticking around to try and fight them all is asking to get killed. The moment we are out of the building we should hurry back out of the Graveyard."

Law sneered slightly at her insistence and simply running and leaned forward on the railing, getting himself comfortable as Ryder strolled out into the arena. He spoke into a microphone snail that broadcasted to speakers throughout the tank. "Welcome all to the Arena! Now I would like five brave contestants to join me in the wall."

At his invitation most of the fighters tried to rush over the wall but after the first five made it the rest calmed and returned to their waiting places. Ryder tied a different colored cloth to each of the men then returned to the center of the ring. "Here they are! Everyone, place your bets!"

As he spoke a large number of men and women entered a secondary walk way that extended out past the one they were standing on. All of these people seemed to be assigned to unmarked sections and they would take money from the spectators and give them a ticket on which they marked something on. When a woman who was taking bets for their section was in front of the two Heart Pirates, Arianna handed her all of the she had in her bag and requested a blue ticket. The ticket had been marked with the amount of beri that was bet and there was a large number one marked on the other side. Law wanted to glare at the girl but waited and watched. She was confident in her ability to place a bet and she was delivering large sums of money to his room every day so she must see something in that fighter that he does not.

After giving everyone about two minutes to bet on the fights Ryder meandered out of the ring and over the wall. "Everyone to your positions. Begin!"

Without another word a scene of absolute brutality unraveled. The fight itself was a free-for-all and the while three men rushed to the center of the octagonal ring two of them went with a different tactic and instead directly attacked each other. The crowd cheered savagely as fists pounded into flesh and the five men struck whoever was closest to them as viciously as they could. Even from his position seven meters up Law could see the splatter of blood as a particularly well place right hook from the fighter with a green cloth dislocated the jaw of the man with a red strap. Then he focused on the fighter that Arianna bet on. He was one of the two men that went straight for each other and seeing as the other one was slumped against the metal wall it was safe to say he was the victor between those two. The blue fighter ran at the red fighter who was finishing off the black one as he tried to get back up and just as a punch square to the downed man's face ensured he would not try to stand again the man with red received a kick to the back of his head, causing him to collapse immediately. After only 47 seconds the five-way battle was over and the man with blue was the only one left standing though not unharmed as his right brow had been split open, likely by a punch that Law had not seen.

There was roars of disappointment from people who apparently lost their bets but also just as many from people who were enamored with the needless violence before them. Law looked down at his companion. "How did you know _he_ would win?"

Her isn't-that-obvious look was also graced with a smug smirk. "I've been coming here for a long time and I was spending a lot of my days going around to the other clubs to get an idea of the people that might get invited here. Also my Sense gives me a good idea of the fighters."

"_You _did prior research on the fighters?" Law couldn't believe his ears. Little miss act-now-worry-later had planned and observed beforehand.

"Do you have a problem with that?" She blushed slightly.

"Only that you aren't that methodical all the time." He answered.

"Life's more fun when you let it surprise you." She brushed off his words with her own preference.

The unconscious fighters were dragged out of the ring and without being instructed to four people stole the colored strips off of the losers and joined the previous victor in the ring. Their announcer spoke. "It looks like our fighters are eager to get started so please place your bets now while you have the chance!"

The employees reappeared and this time when they were approached Arianna handed over the blue ticket and requested a red one. The woman tore off a paper of the appropriate color and pinned the old one to it and wrote down a large number two on one side, it seemed to be a record of which fight the bet refers to. Once again the betting period didn't last long and when it was over the fighters began. Law expected everyone to be more cautious of the previous victor just like he expected that man to be more aggressive. Both met his prediction. Rather start by singling out an individual the blue fighter attacked the group of men charging him at once, jumping and kicking one while punching at another. The kick landed by the punch proved useless and the intended target, the red fighter that Arianna betted on, grabbed his fist and threw him down into the floor and then tossed him up before delivering a crushing, Haki coated punch that most definitely damaged the smaller fighter's heart, assuming it was still beating. The green fighter attacked the red's knees and he went down but before any kind of finishing blow could be delivered he grabbed the attacker by the collar of his shirt and yanked him down, slamming their heads together. With the man disoriented the red fighter got back up, though favoring one of his legs, and took the green fighter by the head and threw him into the wall, causing his neck to bend at an unnatural angle. Despite the obvious death of one of the challengers the fight was not stopped as the final man to challenge the red fighter jumped on his back and began to choke the man while possibly trying to break his neck. The red fighter fumbled for a moment but managed to get a grip on the man on his back and threw him over his body and on to the floor where he stomped his foot down, smashing his face.

With all of the challengers defeated Ryder finally stepped into the ring and declared the red fighter the winner. Law watched as the crowd erupted but with what feelings he couldn't exactly say. He looked down at Arianna who he realized had not been watching the fight at all. Instead she leaned her back against the railing and was watching him. "You know the show is down there." He said.

"Just because I come here a lot doesn't mean I like this part. I can get a good enough idea of what's happening like this."

It hadn't occurred to him before but fighting and even killing other people for entertainment or money really was something that the girl would not agree with. Perhaps that's why she stayed up in the stands and placed bets only. "I can see why you didn't tell any of us about this place."

"If someone on the crew died over some money… It's a stupid thing to lose your life over." She seemed to have very low opinion of the men she was making hundreds of thousands of beri off of.

The process of the exchange of the colors and betting restarted and this time Arianna didn't place any bets. He took that as meaning she was certain on who would win and didn't want to take the risk of losing all of her current winnings.

"So what happens when the fights are all over and this place is a bloodbath? That's not a stupid risk?" He questioned her logic since being in the Graveyard at all during the night was life threatening.

She smiled slightly. "Like I said: hurry out of here."

"Don't expect me to run from everyone."

She sighed. "If you really want to stick around and fight I'll watch your back."

The fight had started but neither cared to watched. "If you want to run away I won't stop you." He wouldn't stop her but that didn't mean he would approve of it.

"Don't insult me. I stand with you." Her voice was strong when she spoke.

Law turned back to the fighting ring and leaned against the railing again, confidently smiling. More than the rest of the fights he was looking forward to the rampage that came when they end. "When does this part of the night finish?"

"When none of the fighters are left." She answered.

There were forty seven people left and with how quickly the fights were going back the wait shouldn't be too much longer. For the next hour he watched four people jump the wall and enter the fighting ring while four others were carried or tossed out. Arianna would bet her current winnings on most of the fights but let some go without her and Law would make a game for himself in predicting the winners, how quickly they would win, how many people they themselves would defeat and who would end up dead. It was morbidly entertaining and he would smirk with pride when his predictions were correct but frown to himself when he was wrong. Arianna never watched any of the fights, she would turn around to place her wager then turn her back to the pointless violence. It was a little annoying in his opinion so on the last fight Law decided he would torture her a little and after she placed her final bet the man shifted behind her to invade _her _personal space and blocked her escapes with his sword and free arm, entrapping her between himself and the railing. "Law?! What are you doing?" She questioned with a demanding tone.

"It isn't right for you to come here but not watch any of the fights. After all these men are all bleeding for the entertainment of others." He said easily.

He was certain that if they were in a quieter place he would have been able to whimper, or perhaps groan. She wrapped her arms around herself to make her form smaller but didn't move to escape him. She watched as the people began their assault on each other and as the seconds ticked by and there was a particularly nasty fighter who caught a larger man off guard from behind and jumped up to grab his head and throat and cranked his arms, breaking the man's neck and ripping out his trachea. He felt the girl take a deep breath and lean back, closing the already almost nonexistent space that he had left between them. Law felt her head turn away and was certain that she had probably closed her eyes. "Why are you so bothered? I've seen you kill people in far more violent ways than that."

"When I kill it's for survival or protection of others; this is killing for money. It's _not_ needed." He could barely hear her over the crowd of people.

The fight was already over and this time when the employees came out rather than collect money and hand out tickets they were pulling people to join them on their walkway. Arianna slipped under the railing and motioned for Law to follow her. Not trusting the situation to come to give him an opportunity to find her again, he did. They, along with about thirty other people walked out of the tank through another doorway that led back out to the adjacent building but to a different part where Ryder was already waiting somehow. He was collecting tickets and calculating the individual's earnings. They waited in line and when the two Heart Pirates were up Ryder greeted them like they were his friends. "Captain Trafalgar! Darling, you didn't tell me you were going to be bringing a guest."

"I didn't plan on it until earlier today." She told him as she handed him her ticket, completely forgoing the fact that it wasn't his business what she did.

Ryder inspected it and smiled. "Well, well. You certainly know how to wring money out of me." The colorful man wrote through some numbers and then counted out some bills. "Here you are."

The man deliberately didn't say the amount he was giving them, probably to not draw too much attention to how much they were walking away with, but he can't hide the fact that the paper bag the bills were in had a clear heft to it. Arianna packed the money into her bag and nodded farewell to the man. They walked out and the moment they left the building there was an obvious air of violence that lingered. Law's posture shifted slightly as he readied to protect himself the moment necessary; Arianna did the same. They didn't say anything to each other but when Law moved forward the girl stepped in behind, both kept their senses open for the slightest bit of danger. Law's Haki alerted him to an attack from above so he stepped out of the path in time for a bullet to imbed itself into the ground. More gun shots rang out and they chased after Arianna who in turn raced off to find some cover. Law could tell that the shooter was out of his range so he instead took cover himself in the nearest abandoned building.

When he passed through the doorway he was immediately attack from his left by a man with a cutlass. Law used his sheathed nodachi to defend himself with ease then pushed the attacker off balance and in one fluid motion drew his blade and sliced open the chest of another man who thought he could take the pirate captain by surprise. When he turned his attention back to the first attacker Arianna flew past him and jumped the stranger pirate, curling her body over his head and flipping herself, effectively throwing the pirate across the empty building. She landed on her feet and looked at her captain. "So you really are planning to kill everyone you come across?"

"Maybe not everyone; I just want my turn to have a good time." Law answered with a smirk.

The both of them glanced at the wall to Law's right. He could sense someone trying and failing to surprise them. Law held out his hand and released a ring of energy. "ROOM."

The space he created was relatively small as he wanted to conserve his energy and cut through the building wall and cleaving the unseen attacker into two with a scream. Arianna peeked out the doorway to look at whoever it was. "Some girl with a gun." She informed Law.

"Do you see anyone else?" He asked.

"Not yet." She answered.

Since the coast was clear Law strolled past his companion as well as the now dead woman on the ground. "Let's go then."

She trotted a little to catch up to him then walked just behind him, being sure to glance around. Law kept his eyes sharp but unfocused so that they'd pick up on any movement. He could hear screams from not far off but no one new approached them just yet. "Look out!" Arianna tackled him to the ground and held his head down as a horse carriage fell from the sky and bounced with a crash just in front of them. The two lifted their heads and looked behind themselves where they saw a hulk of a shaved headed man in a Naval Officer coat wander towards them.

"Oh, so there were pirates over here." He said having apparently thrown the vehicle just to see if he'd hit anyone.

The two Heart Pirates got to their feet and faced their opponent. Law didn't recognize him from any newspapers but that didn't mean he wasn't a threat.

"The Surgeon of Death and the Little Beast; what a treat." He clearly knew of them.

The pirate captain could feel Arianna tense at her epithet and it almost sounded like she snarled. "ROOM." Law activated his powers and sliced without hesitation.

The Marine pulled what looked like a large mochi hammer off the back of his belt and slammed it down, breaking the effect of Law's strike. There was something unsettling about the hammer to Law but he couldn't quiet tell what. The large man moved with shocking speed and almost reached striking distance before Law could get his guard up but the officer was intercepted by an equally agile Arianna. The girl moved in too close for the hammer to be of any use and sliced him with her dagger as she continued past him in a hit and run fashion. Law used the opportunity she created to rush forward and give a direct swing of his sword as he attempted to sever the man's forward arm. While his sword made contact he didn't have much of a chance to cut deeply as the larger man used that arm as a fleshy hammer and slammed hard into the pirate. When Arianna redirected herself to attack again the officer swept his hammer in an upwards motion, scooping her up and launching her over Law and toward some other Marines who were closing in on them from the side streets. The girl it the ground hard and rolled and bounced a few times but she righted herself and sprinted into the growing crowd of men in white and blue without losing a drop of the momentum the throw forced on her.

Law trusted that she would handle those men just fine and focused on the one closest to him. His Room had closed but he was sure it wouldn't be of any use to him in that situation anyways so he instead focused entirely on his swordsmanship. He held his Kikoku with a more traditional two handed grip than when he was using it for quick swipes to facilitate his Devil Fruit power. He kept his focus on every movement of the Marine before him and when the man moved it was fast and Law was thankful that he didn't bother trying to divide his concentration between his opponent and his Room as it helped his reactivity and he was more comfortably able to guard against the oncoming hammer. The weapon had an odd shape to it and because of that the swings curved with an unfamiliar arc. Law had to adjust his guard for the attacks and as he held off one in particular he got an up-close look at the end of the mochi hammer. The face of the weapon was plated with seastone and it gave Law a nasty feeling in the back of his head. When he pushed on the weapon to shift his opponent's balance and create an opening Law felt a burning sensation cut the side of his arm. He turned his head slightly to see that a line of five pirates had flintlock guns pointed directly at Law and the officer he was fighting. Three more fired at Law so he shifted and avoided two of the bullet and deflected the third. The Marine wasn't paying them any attention though. Instead he had turned and swung his hammer in a horizontal direction, his focus now on Arianna who was rushing back into their battle zone. She didn't engage in their fight and instead slid under the hammer and was back on her feet. When she rushed past Law their eyes locked for a brief moment and they smirked at each other. She'll watch his back, he just needs to think about what's in front of him.

The pirate ran his sword through the Marine's ribs and sliced his right lung. The man wasn't a weakling though and despite his injury managed to step back just enough to enter his optimum range and slammed his weapon down in a traditional hammer swing. Law turned his blade to use a horizontal block and slid his sword up along the underside of the angled shaft and sliced the weapon in to two. While the man registered what just happened with shock on his expression the pirate jumped up and beheaded him.

Before he had a chance to take in the situation currently around him Arianna grabbed his left hand off his sword and began racing them through streets filled with the sounds of metal clinks and gunshots. While she could move her legs faster than he, his were much longer so he was able to match her pace without much effort. Law could feel that there was another group of people just around the corner and so he pulled her off their current path and into a building that was empty other than a few dead bodies. Arianna was panting a bit and was scrapped up all over from the earlier throw but otherwise fine. The backpack was still securely on her where it should be.

"You okay?" She asked as she handed him the sheath for his sword. He didn't even remember dropping it.

"I'm fine." He said, unwinding the red cord on it and using it to tie the polished black and white wood to his back.

"The guy around the corner is Tew Tommy." She informed.

He tore a clean looking strip from the naval coat of one of the dead bodies and tied it around his gunshot wound. "How do you know that?"

She shrugged. "I'm not the only Graveyard regular, and he likes to shout his name."

Law considered their situation. Tew Tommy was actually a very dangerous pirate and from what he could tell he had at least twelve members of his crew with him. Arianna's insistence that it would be best for them to try and simply slip out of the Graveyard was starting to make sense. "Even with the both of us it would be dangerous to engage him and his crew…"

"Then why not just kill him without fighting?" She said it as if it was the most obvious option.

He frowned disbelieving of her. "How do you propose we do that? Just walk up to him and stab him in the heart?"

She glanced away from him and out the window. "I was thinking about a different direction but if you want to try that it would be a good distraction."

"No." His voice was firm. "We'll go around him."

She half smiled. "I'm glad you changed your mind about killing as many people as you can."

Law rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

They exited their hiding place through a back window and slipped quietly along the side of the buildings. For some reason he could no longer even feel Arianna behind him so he glanced back to make sure she was still there. She was but she was also glaring at him for some reason. "What?" He whispered.

"You're too noticeable." She whispered back.

She glanced at the building and jumped up, scrambling up the side of the building while Law ducked down. Something heavy and metal crashed through the building, causing splinters and wooden planks to rain down on him. Apparently Tew thought he was too noticeable as well. "ROOM." He opened his space and threw his whole hand forward. "Tact!" He sent most of the debris directly his attacker.

The Hearts pirate captain launched himself up and propelled himself backwards on one hand while he sliced open one of Tew's men who had rushed forward. Tew shuffled back out of the blue dome and continuously swung his ball and chain, ready to launch an attack if he saw an opening. The eleven weaker pirates all attacked Law from different directions, four of them fought with swords making it easy for the captain to overpower them with his highly practiced precision. He continued turning in every direction to block stabs or swings all while cutting them down. A spear wielding pirate charged with a straight jab so he grabbed the shaft and jumped with a turn, the movement pried the weapon out of its wielder's hand and slammed the butt of his swords handle squarely onto the center of the man's skull, breaking opening the sagittal suture. Law tossed the spear up just enough to readjust his grip and threw it like a javelin into the torso of the fifth pirate.

The Surgeon of Death stood ready with a wicked smile, facing the last six that stood between him and their captain. "Shambles."

In a flash Law had swapped himself with a broken piece of the wall and cut down four of them before they could even understand what had just happened and even though the last two realized he was behind them it didn't save them from his blade. Tew was pissed off to see his men killed like the fodder they were to Law and whipped his steel ball out at Law. He ducked and caught the chain on his sword, he then twisted his weapon a few times to wrap the chain around it and tensed his whole body to anchor himself down. The enemy captain pulled and dragged Law forward some but he wouldn't give any more despite the straining it brought to his muscles to hold his ground. Unfortunately for Law, Tew released his end of the chain with one hand and allowed another ball and chain to roll off his back. He whipped it sideways to unravel the metal links but before he could use it to attack the young pirate something compact dropped from the sky onto the back of the man and his body went limp and fell forward. The chain that Law had been experiencing a tug-of-war game with was suddenly lax.

Law looked past his sword and Arianna straightened herself up, standing on the lifeless body of the supposedly highly dangerous and 350,000,000 beri worth man as if he was some kid playing pirate. She looked at her captain and retracted her Hunter's Blade. "I told you it would be easier to just kill him than fight him."

"Easy for you to say seeing as I did all of the fighting." He scoffed.

She gave him an impish smile. "But I thought it was your turn to have a good time."

He scowled slightly but it was mostly because she was throwing his arrogant words back at him. "Let's just go."

()

After dealing with Tew and some of his crew Law was much more willing to avoid any more unneeded fights, even if it would have been an easy one. They were able to slip past other potential opponents and out to where the Graveyard bled into the adult's only district so she had pulled her bandana back up and over her mouth. "What now? Do you want to go home?"

"Yeah…" He answered with a lazy tone, like he was already planning to lie down and going to sleep.

They walked through the street when the pair encountered a pair of unexpected faces as well as some vaguely expected ones: Shachi and Penguin were being escorted out of one of the Houses by Ellie and Mary. Arianna could tell from where she was that the two men were very happy and that the women were bored but were doing their best to entertain their "guests".

"Of course you two are here." Law spoke up drawing attention to them, just like she didn't want.

They looked at him with an embarrassed surprise but when they saw that Arianna was with him their embarrassment turned to horror. "Ari-chan!? Why are you two here?"

Mary and Ellie on the other hand lit up at the sight of the girl. "Aria, you made it out early!" Ellie spoke with a sense of amazement.

Mary raced up and trapped the girl in her arms. "Aw! You actual took our advise and asked Law out on a date."

"This isn't a date!" Both she and her captain corrected.

"Sure it isn't…" The female red head said with a wink.

"You two were on a date?!" Shachi asked in shock.

Because there apparently weren't enough people in on the conversation Cat came barreling out of the building and crashed into the other little brunette who was trapped by Mary and couldn't get away. "You made it! Oh, you took our advice and asked Law on a date, huh?"

"It isn't a date!" Arianna declared again but her voice wasn't as steady as it was before. The smell that emanated from the two women clamped on her was making her exceptionally uncomfortable. They were in some of their peak business hours after all. The two women definitely knew it too.

"Aw, are you okay?" Mary asked with false concern.

"No she isn't. Look at all of those scrapes. She needs first aide." Cat said.

The two girls positioned themselves on each side of the female pirate and Cat gently stroked the top of her head and her back beneath the bag while Mary rubbed her other cheek and ran her hand up and down the opposite hip. Both girls were rubbing their cheeks against hers, and she was certain she was flushed deep scarlet from the tips of her ears to her chest. She was whining something incoherent, even to herself, as she tried to think of something to get her out of the horribly embarrassing situation but having it all unfold in front of Law, Shachi and Penguin made her feel ten times more sensitive and a hundred times more flustered.

The traitorous men just watched, unable to peel their eyes off of what must have been a show to them. Thankfully Ellie finally took pity on her. "Alright, alright. Cut that out you two. Aria looks like she'll explode."

"If she does then we can take her inside right?" Mary asked Law, as if sincerely looking for his permission.

"Let her go." The blond said again and Arianna could swear she heard Shachi and Penguin whisper "please don't".

When the two affectionate women obeyed and Arianna bolted like a terrified kitten and jumped up onto Law's back and buried her already covered face into his shoulder. Part of her felt like that was another mistake since that's where he seemed to smell best and she felt like his scent was stronger than usual thanks to the fighting and general excitement of their night.

"Why are you climbing me?!" He complained surprisingly little.

"Yeah, hide behind the attractive guy. That'll deter us." Mary said sarcastically earning a giggle from Cat.

"Wait, what does that make us?" Penguin asked but nobody but Shachi acknowledged it.

"YOU GIRLS BETTER BE BRINGING IN SOME CUSTOMERS!" Max shouted at the three working women from the doorway of the house. It put a bit of a panic in their faces and they ran back into the building with barely a farewell.

After a few seconds Law pinched Arianna's arm. "They're gone so get off of me."

She really didn't want to but did as she was told and dropped to the ground. She very awkwardly avoided his and the other two pirates' gazes and began her highly needed walk out of that district. The men walked as well but none of them seemed to be talking to her so she did her best to tune out all noises until the air became a bit less sex filled. She saw the shop that she designated as a checkpoint for herself and pulled down her bandana to take a much desired deep breathe.

The boys seemed to think it was safe to approach her now and her two friends came in uncomfortably close. They still reeked of the activities they were engaged in while on that street. "Teach us your ways."

She had no clue what they were talking about. "What?"

"You had those women all over you and all you did was walk up. Teach us how to do that." Penguin elaborated.

Arianna put her hands up and shrugged. "I was just nice to them and they became my friends. Try that."

"Friends aren't that thirsty for each other." Shachi argued.

While she was 100% on what he means by thirsty she assumed he meant it as affectionate. "That really was all I did though…"

"Just let it go. They like her because they want to taint her." Law interjected.

Arianna wasn't sure if she should be offended by that or not but ultimately decided she didn't so who cares if she should.

The two boys weren't done though. "Maybe if we get a few drinks in you, you'd be willing to share your secrets."

"I don't drink." She quickly told them. She had tried drinking Worlder alcohol last time she was on Manx and it proved to lead to a disappointing night.

"We need to rectify that now! You've been so busy doing whatever it is you do that you haven't spent any time with the crew all week. Almost everyone is out at the Ripper's House now so let's go!" The red head said.

Arianna was horribly tired and really didn't want to. "I'd rather go home and sleep."

"Too bad." Law of all people grabbed her by the collar of her bear fur vest and pulled her along.

"Weren't you ready to go back to the ship too?" She tried to remind him that she wasn't the only one who was looking forward to a bed.

"I changed my mind. It's been a good night and you made good money so let's have some fun with it." He sounded like he was scheming something.

"Yay!" The boys cheered for their captain.

Against her will, Arianna was taken to the Ripper's House and it was full of noisy people, pirates and Marine alike. The Heart Pirates were there, just as the head medic said. Arianna's eyes focused in on Bepo and she raced for him with a big hug. "Bepo!"

"Hello Ari-chan. How was yours and Captain's date?" He asked when he caught her, not even questioning her sudden attack.

"It wasn't a date." She corrected but not with nearly the effort she had been trying before. She was tired and hoped he would let her use him as a mobile bed.

Law clearly caught on. "Bepo put her down before she falls asleep."

"Okay." He obeyed without hesitation.

"Why can't I sleep?" She unhappily questioned him.

"Why are you so tired? You slept for five hours before we even left the ship." He countered.

"It's late…" Though weak, it was a legitimate excuse in her mind.

"The date went well, huh?" Bepo said as he watched the exchange catching the attention of a large number of the crew.

"It wasn't a date." When Law said it everyone seemed to accept it as true.

They sat down on some stools that opened up as the previous occupants saw the pirates coming and ran away. It was most likely that they were afraid of Law. Shachi leaned on the bar top and called out to the man behind it. "Hey Jack, could you get us four beers."

The owner waved to show his acknowledgement and finished what he was doing before bringing over four pints of dark beer and a pint glass filled with water which he handed directly to Arianna. "Nope. You are drinking." Penguin said as he swiped her water and pushed the beer in its place.

"You should have said it was for her." He took it away. "Don't ask me to waste beer like that."

"Hey! We want her to drink with us." Shachi complained.

She swiped the water mug back. "I'll stick to this."

"We're going to get you to drink with us." Penguin insisted.

When she rolled her eyes at his comment she felt her stomach grumble. It was nearly one in the morning and she hadn't eaten since early that afternoon. "Jack, do you have any food?"

He handed off some drinks to the other bartender. "Sorry. The chef already went home for the night."

She frowned. Dragged to a bar to not drink or eat or sleep when she really wanted two of those things. Jack must have noticed that she was getting grumpy too. "I'll tell you what. If you can get rid of that asshole-" He pointed to a man sitting at a table against the left wall. "I will go and make you a sandwich. He's been harassing my female customers."

"Deal." She hopped off her stool and walked straight to the man whom on closer inspection she realized was one of the rude customers from that morning. "Hey, you! The owner wants you out."

He looked up at her and laughed. "Do I look like I care sweetheart?"

"What the hell did you just call her?" Connor was close by and aggressively confronted the man.

When one of the boys moved the rest of the crew seemed to react and all Heart Pirate eyes were on the rude man and he seemed nervous. "Look, I ain't got no beef with you Heart Pirates. I'm just sitting here, minding my own business and this bitch walked up and told me to leave."

"That 'bitch' is one of us." Marcus moved protectively in front of her.

_*Not good! If this gets any worse Jack will kick __**us **__out. I won't get my sandwich!* _She stepped forward to try and calm the situation. "The owner really did ask me to send you out and I don't want any trouble so go away."

Apparently the rude man was also stupidly brave. He reclined in his chair as the entirety of the Heart Pirates stared him down making Arianna wonder how much he's had to drink already. "What will it take for you to leave?" She asked.

He fiddled with a bottle of something clear and alcoholic on his table. "How about this: you drink more than me I'll leave."

"Fine."

"NO! Ari-chan let's just throw him out!" Penguin shouted, now concerned.

"We can't. Jack doesn't allow fights." She reminded him.

"Who cares? You said you don't drink." Shachi tried to pull her away.

"Don't tell him that!" Penguin said, smacking his friend on the back of the head.

Arianna saw Law looking at her. He had been silent through it all and his gaze was fixed. He was observing the scene with the same look that she made when she observed prey. She smiled apologetically. "Sorry but I really want that food Jack promised me for getting him out."

Marcus sighed. "Of course you're doing this for food."

The man poured from the nearly full half-liter bottle and filled two shot glasses. He raised his glass up. "I forgot to mention, if I win I'd like you to keep me company for the rest of the night."

She too glared at him now as he threw back his drink. She was not willing to even humor the man so she reached past her shot glass and grabbed the whole bottle. She took the top off and drank directly from it.

"Hey! That's cheating and since you clearly didn't know, if you throw up you lose any drinking game!" He shouted at her but she didn't care. Arianna chugged the entire bottle like it was water. When she was finished she placed it back down on the table.

She pointed to her still full shot glass. "You can have that one too if you want." He wasn't saying anything. No one in the bar was. "Or don't. It doesn't matter since you lost. Please leave."

"NO! YOU CHEATED!" The man moved to grab her but she didn't flinch.

Before anyone of the Heart Pirates made a move Jack had the man by the wrist. "I make myself very clear. No fighting in my bar."

Since Jack had the jerk Arianna got out of her chair and started ushering her friends back a little, all of whom gave her strange looks.

"Let go of me man!"

"Okay." Jack released the man's arm but the second he did he launched a punch that literally tore a hole through the man's abdomen, spraying the room with blood.

The man was too far in shock to even scream so the bar owner dragged his collapsed body out of his building and dropped him on the street. There were no words through the bar, only stares. Jack scratched the back of his head with his blood soaked hand but still looked bored. "I have to close up early tonight since we have a big mess to clean up now. Come back tomorrow if you want."

A majority of the people ran from the bar as fast as they could but the Heart's all stayed. "So you really are _the _Jack the Ripper." Bart stated his comment with absolute conviction.

"Nope. I'm retired." He responded.

Newt raised his hand as he spoke up. "Can someone explain what the heck just happened for those of us who don't have any clue?"

Law spoke up. "Jack the Ripper was a Marine Rear Admiral that disappeared eight years ago. He got that name because his punches were so fast and powerful it looked like his opponents were ripped apart."

"Disappeared" The man in question repeated that word as a chuckle. "Like I said: I'm retired."

"That didn't look very retired to me." Bepo said.

He gave a slight shrug. "Now, unless you lot want to help me clean up this place why don't you get going."

"Yeah… We'll see you tomorrow!" Shachi announced as he and Penguin quickly retreated from the room with most of the crew following their lead.

Arianna stood in place and frowned.

"What?" Marcus asked her.

"This means I don't get my sandwich." She whined.

"You can just eat at the ship." He snapped, not understanding why that was most important.

_*I would have if someone didn't drag me here in the first place.*_ She thought, giving Law a slight glare.

The captain looked at her and sighed. "Let's just go."

"Hey Aria." Jack stopped her. "I almost forgot to give you this." From below the bar top Jack pulled out a ceramic jug the size of her head.

She recognized it in an instant. "Suuhcreha?"

"What?" Law, Bepo and Marcus all asked for a translation.

"The guy I bought it off of called it moonshine." Jack was the one who gave it to them since Arianna was busy uncorking it and sniffing the contents. It smelled like apples.

"You guys saw her down a whole bottle of vodka like it was nothing. It's because she's got a demon's liver." He explained.

"I do not. You people are just weak to alcohol." She argued.

"So when you say you don't drink it's not because you can't…" Bepo started.

"Why would I bother since it won't even give me a slight tingle?" She explained.

"Weird way of putting it, but sure. Drinking isn't as fun if you can't get drunk." Marcus consented.

Arianna wrapped her arms around the moonshine jug and pulled it off the counter. "Let's go home already, I wanna eat!"

"Bye." Jack gave them a lazy farewell and the group finally started their return to the ship. When they got there it was clear that no one on the crew was anywhere near bedbound. In fact everyone was so wired and restless that Law told Thomas to go ahead and prepare some food. The whole crew happily ran to the galley, Arianna however took a side trip with Law to put the money away. When in his room and away from all of the excited people she remembered that he had been in a couple of fights that day and had been shot. "Do you want me to help you with your arm?"

"No. You should get going though." He was quick to dismiss her.

At first she felt a bit hurt since they had been getting along so well for a while now but when he started rummaging through his dresser she realized he was going to get changed and fled his room. "I'll see you downstairs then."

Arianna glanced down at herself and realized for the first time that she was covered in dirt and cuts and blood. It was actually very surprising that Law took her to Jack's bar instead of sending her straight to the ship to clean herself up. She went to her room across the hall and dropped off her drink and picked up some clothes. She took a shower before anything else and only after she was in fresh clothes and clean skin did the girl walk down to the galley, moonshine in tow.

She walked a direct path to the food that Thomas had placed out, nothing crazy just sandwiches and some fruit and raw vegetables. The man probably didn't want to actually cook at 1:30 in the morning and she didn't blame him. She shoved a ham and cheese sandwich in her mouth and grabbed a second one to take with her to the preferred table of her friends.

"There you are! We were starting to think you weren't going to come down." Connor said.

She glanced around at the people and saw that Law was among them and he too had showered.

"What is that?" Shachi asked taking hold of her drink.

"Suuhcreha. Moonshine." She said its name in both languages. "It's what my people drink. Jack found some somehow and gave it to me since Worlder stuff is too weak."

"And that stuff can get you drunk?" Penguin asked curiously.

"Uh-huh." She hummed with a nod.

"Can we try some?" he asked.

Arianna hugged her jug protectively. It was all she had for who knows how long. If she shares it then that's less for her when they can just drink the same stuff they usually do.

Shachi saw her reaction and tried to reason with her. "Just a glass each."

"I never expected _you _to like alcohol so much that you'd be possessive of it." Law said with a smirk.

She frowned at him but he did have a point. Drinking had never been a big deal or important to her before. When she sailed with her Family if she wanted to she could've drank every night but in reality it was also unusual for her to drink more than two or three times in a whole month. "Fine."

She conceded, and the boys held out their glasses and she poured enough for a double shot for each of them. She filled her glass. When the boys all looked at her with displeased expressions she just crossed her arms. "I'm not going to drinking what you guys all are so I need to make this last."

Shachi was quick to no longer care, assuming he did in the first place. "Fair enough. Cheers!"

He lifted his glass and took a sip. The moment the alcohol touched his tongue his eyes bulged out of his skull and he nearly dropped the glass with raspy coughs. "HOLY SHIT! Too much! Take it back, it's all yours!"

Law, Bepo, Connor, Marcus, and Oliver all looked at their glasses in slight horror. Penguin looked with curiosity and took a sip himself. He reacted much the same as his friend. "Holy Hell! It's like apple flavored kerosene!"

At this point the other five men were pouring there servings back into the jug. Arianna on the other hand drank half of her glass at once with a happy exhale. She smirked at Shachi and Penguin and laughed at their misery. "Pypeac." ("Babies.")

Apparently Law left the table because he just came back with something else for them to drink now that all of the Worlders understood, Tribal booze really should only be drank by Tribesmen. When all of the people sitting at the table had a drink that they weren't afraid of the boys all raised their glasses and so Arianna followed suit and all at once they downed their drinks.

Liquid warmed her mouth and throat pleasantly and she was quick to take and down Penguin and Shachi's share. Perhaps it was due to years of not drinking the stuff but it did hit her with a bit more kick then she remembered. She was serious about conserving the moonshine so she set a limit on how much she would have that night but now she wondered if she'd last to that point. _*Probably for the best then.*_ She decided as she poured another glass.

Her friends and she drank and they all talked. It was pleasant to her, seeing Law behave like a regular guy having a good time with others. The whole day was a change of pace between the two of them and it really did make her smile.

"What are you so happy about?" Connor asked her, bringing the table's attention to her expression.

"This! This is fun! Why don't we do it more often?"

"It'd be great if we could but we do have to consider our safety. If we were attacked while drinking like this it would likely lead to people getting unnecessarily hurt." Bepo explained.

"Yeah, I can see that I guess." She conceded.

"What? You and your family always get drunk and have fun whenever you felt like?" Marcus asked a bit sarcastically.

"Yeah, more or less." Arianna answered seriously as she took another big gulp of her moonshine.

Law stopped mid-sip at that. "Seriously? What kind of laid-back life is that?"

"Fa just do whatever fa want, frahajan we want. Pirates are the same. I'm pretty cina it's just you who has all these nimac." She didn't realize it, but she was starting to get her languages mixed. None of the men said anything though since they could still more or less catch what she was saying.

"Sorry I'd rather the whole crew makes it to the One Piece then lose someone because of wanting to have too much fun." Law almost seemed offended but at the same time amused for whatever reason.

"Where's the fun in that?!" She pointed out.

"That doesn't even make sense." Law argued back.

"Cina ed tuac!" ("Sure it does!) She exclaimed, patting him on the shoulder.

Oliver watched her with a bit of amazement. "You really are getting drunk aren't you?"

Arianna finished the glass she didn't remember pouring and gave him a toothy grin. "Oab!" (Yep!)

Shachi smiled excitedly at her. "So you seem like a pretty happy drunk, huh?"

She was swaying herself side to side now, her loose hair sweeping and somewhat tickling the back of her shoulders. "Usually yeah."

The head medic looked back at Penguin who seemed disappointed. "You owe me 2,000 beri."

He reached into his pocket and handed over the money, grumbling about how he should've known she would be.

Arianna looked at her unhappy friend and it made her a little sad. So she got up and walked over to him, and planted herself on his lap to hug him. "Tut'd pa cyt Suhgao." ("Don't be sad Monkey.")

He nearly fell over in surprise at the girl. For him and all the other men not just at the table, but in the galley Arianna had unwittingly become the entertainment for the evening. The usually observant girl was totally oblivious of everyone watching her, she simply held on to Penguin and snuggled him in her attempt to make him feel better.

"Arianna! Stop doing that! Get off him!" Marcus was practically yelling at her.

She just looked at the new unhappy man and jumped off of Penguin's lap and on to Marcus', completely ignoring his protests. She hugged him tightly and rubbed her cheek against his affectionately. "Ed'c vehan, ed'c vehan. Don't be angry Dog." (It's fine, it's fine.")

For some reason, he went from embarrassed to angry when she spoke.

"What'd you call me?!"

"Tuk!" ("Dog!") She repeated cheerfully, unaware that she slipped languages again.

"Try again." Marcus said, sounding impatient.

"DOG!" She said the word loud and slow. Perhaps he wanted her to repeat herself because he had too much to drink to understand.

"WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME A DOG?!" He sounds furious.

Arianna on the other hand was simply confused. "Why are you upset?"

"Because you called me a dog!" He wasn't yelling as loudly anymore.

A light suddenly went on in the drunk girls head. She patted Marcus on top of his head. "ed'c hud yh ehcimd." ("It's not an insult.")

She pointed at him now and said the word again. "Dog."

Then she turned herself to face all of the other men and pointed at each of them and designating them all with new names. She started with Oliver then Connor then Law, Bepo, Shachi, and ended with Penguin. "Deer. Cat. Leopard. Bear. Duck. Monkey."

The only person who wasn't shocked at the new label was Bepo since he was a bear to begin with. She ignored them and pointed to herself smiling. "Wolf."

Marcus looked like his face was straining. But eventually his amusement won out and he started laughing. Once he did Arianna leaned her head down a bit and pointed to the top of it. "Bad bmayca." ("Pet please.")

"Alright, alright." He understood and started ruffling her hair.

Shachi started throwing a fit. "No fair! I want Ari-chan hugs!"

Not able to resist an unhappy friend, Arianna abruptly got off of Marcus and gave Shachi a hug. But he hugged back tightly. A bit too tightly and laughed a bit too excitedly in her opinion so she got up just as quickly and jumped in Law's lap. She looked at him with a slightly disturbed expression. "Banjand." ("Pervert.")

When she looked up at Law he was looking at her, amused. He was waiting to see what will happen next. She wiggled slightly, making herself comfortable on his lap and leaned forward to retrieve her moonshine, pouring some in her glass and drinking a bit more. It made her toes happy and they wiggled in her shoes.

After the drink to forget Shachi's bad behavior she turned to snuggled in closer to Leopard. She buried her face into his chest and thoroughly enjoyed his scent. The odd mixture of ocean, metal, fir trees and the elements that can only be described as Law. As long as it wasn't coming from his hands the scent of Law was by far her favorite on the ship. Possibly even off of it. She hummed happily as she snuggled deeper into her favorite smell, entirely uncaring of the lack of affection from him. _*So good… Favorite. Best.*_

()

At first the pirate captain was amused by the girl's drunken behavior. How could he not be? But now that she was on his lap, snuggling deep into his chest, it wasn't so amusing. He enjoyed it. A bit more than he'd like to admit, which is what was also making him feel uncomfortable about Arianna getting so cozy on him in a room with spectators. "Alright. Time's up." He said, nudging her a bit to get off.

She held on tighter. "hu."

Law hadn't begun to pick up on much her language yet but he could confidently guess that she just told him "no".

"Now Arianna."

When she still didn't budge he went for a plan B. "ROOM."

He opened a sphere just big enough for the table and its occupants. "Shambles."

Law used his power to switch places with Oliver. From his new location, he saw the girl pause and look up at the new person. Oliver smiled sheepishly since he had just about as much choice in the new arrangement as she did. Arianna looked at Law and gave him a huffy pout but snuggled cheerfully into Oliver's arms and chest anyways. The blond chuckled and settled himself into his new seat, passing his captain's cup to the man and exchanged it for his own.

The drinking resumed and the excitement over Arianna's sudden behavior was forgotten as they all became enthralled in their conversations and quips. The other tables began to slowly clear as Heart Pirates got up to go sleep or were carried out and Law was a bit surprised that he was among the last group to continue on. When he downed his current glass of whiskey, having had moved off of the beer that the other men were still drinking, he considered just turning in for the night. But somehow or another Arianna had snuck onto his lap and was cuddling up on him again.

He gave her an irritated look but she ignored it and continued to bury her face in his chest and shoulder. Penguin and Connor laughed at Law's situation while Shachi grumbled about how he wishes he could be his captain at that moment. Law sighed. "ROOM. Shambles."

This time he swapped himself with Bepo. The bear was often clingy when drunk himself so they seemed like a good match. Unfortunately Arianna disagreed and wrestled herself out of Bepo's hug, effectively breaking his heart. "Ari-chan… Why?" He cried.

She tried to jump on Law again but he denied her with another sacrifice, this one in the form of Connor. _*They're close, right?*_

"Wah!" The boy yelled when the girl collided with him and they both fell to the ground. The girl however made an annoyed whine before getting up and jumping over the table, landing just before the other side so that she could slide off and land gently-ish on Law's lap before wrapping her arms and legs tightly around him.

"Why me?!" Law couldn't help but ask.

"Palyica oui csamm pacd." She said into him, apparently oblivious to her use of her use of her old language.

"Face it Captain. She likes you the most." Marcus said with a smirk that looked suspiciously close to one of Law's own.

"True, true." Penguin agreed, and Shachi tact on. "She did kiss you."

"Hu E teda'd." Arianna chimed in and Law was certain she said "no" somewhere in there.

"Yes you did. Or are you too drunk to remember?" He argued with her.

"I know what you're talking about but that wasn't a kiss." She was finally speaking the correct language to them.

"Yes it was." All of the male pirates rebutted against her.

She puffed out her cheeks in a huff and resumed snuggling into Law and ignoring the boys.

"Trying to act cute in front of Captain?" Connor teased at the girl with a big grin of his own.

Shachi, Penguin, Marcus and Bepo laughed at the girl but Oliver actually pinched his cheek and teased him. "You're one to talk about 'acting cute'."

Now the four boys plus Law laughed at the dark haired mechanic who was blushing.

It was only after their laughter died down that he decided it was time to break-up the fun for the night. It was running much later than he expected it to. "Alright guys. We should go to bed for now."

"Aww!" There was a chorus of disappointment from the boys.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" He asked, knowing he needed to be the adult now.

When there were no answers he pointed to the clock on the wall directly across from him. "3:12 in the morning."

They were all pretty shocked. None of them really expected it to be so late. Shachi, Pengiun, Oliver and Connor stood and stumbled at varying severities to their rooms while Marcus and Bepo tried to clean up. Law was attempting to pry Arianna off of him but it was to no avail. He wasn't even sure if she was awake at the moment; she had been so quiet for so long. _*At least I pass her room going to mine.*_ He thought as he decided to just stand and carry her, making sure to grab her liquor.

She didn't move or make a sound but when he stood her legs untangled themselves from around him and he had to quickly grab her hips before she fell to the ground. At least she somehow kept her arms locked around him. Taking a bit of relief in the fact that Bepo and Marcus were in the kitchen at the moment, Law ran his hand down her hip and rested it under her thigh to better support her weight. The shift gave him a good feel of her ass and he almost felt the need to _escape_ the galley before Marcus returned rather than simply stroll out like he will. _*With the way Marcus has "adopted" Arianna who knows how he'd take this.*_

It wasn't until he started walking up the stairs that the girl showed signs of life, shifting and groaning as she swayed to a waking state. Law looked down at her and when she saw that he was the one carrying her she pulled herself up a little more so that her face was resting against his shoulder rather than his chest. "Don't get too comfortable. We're just about to your room."

"Hmm." She hummed and started half-heartedly nuzzling and nipping his neck and collarbone.

Law's eyes widened when he felt this and he stopped walking. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"Best. Oui csamm pacd rana."

_*Best? Best what?* _He questioned internally. "Say it again." He told her.

"Why? Because you think I kissed you?"

He sighed and resumed walking the rest of the way to her room. When he got there he turned his hand that was supporting her weight so that it was no long gripping her leg and he instead occupied it with the rope that attached to her alcohol jug, doing so freed up his right hand to open her door. "Dryd fych'd y naym gecc, oui ghuf."

Law wasn't even going to respond to her anymore. He just wanted to put her to bed and crawl in his own.

"You don't believe that it wasn't a real kiss do you?" She said in a challenging voice.

"I think you convinced yourself of that. Or at least you are hiding behind some custom so that you don't have to admit what you did; assuming it's real that is." He pushed back at her challenge as he more or less dropped her on her bed.

She made her huffy face again and between the rosy tint the alcohol gave her cheeks and the slightly unkempt look her hair flopped into from being dropped she looked adorable enough to…

_*To what?* _Law wondered.

Her pout faded away and she looked at him curiously then smiled.

"What?" Her instantaneous mood swings were going to start to giving him whiplash.

"Oui'na sygehk y lida vyla ykyeh." Of course she didn't answer in the language he understood.

"Wha- Mmf!" When he tried to ask her what she said the girl drove herself straight at him, interrupting him with a kiss.

Law was so shocked he just stood there unmoving. It wasn't until she slipped her tongue into his mouth and started stroking it across his that what was happening completely registered, but when it did he took acted immediately. Pushing her down flat onto her bed and hovering over her on his knees and forearms as they fought for dominance. He expected it to be easy and that he'd have her quivering in seconds but she was putting up a good fight, nipping and playing with his tongue and lips better than he could've predicted. Plus she had the benefit of two free hands, which she took full advantage of. Arianna repeatedly traced trails from the collar of his shirt, up his neck, and into his hair until she reached his hat then back down with one hand and pawed at his lower back just above his left illium.

Sliding his left arm more center above Arianna's head, Law freed up his right hand to let it run down her side and took a handful of her butt since he got such a little feel of it when he carried her up. She squirmed at the act and pulled her right hand up from his hip and over the back of his shoulder while her left moved down from his head once again but her mouth left his with it, tracing a line down from his cheek then jaw and neck. She pulled his sweater collar down and kissed then licked the spot that she had been nuzzling.

"Why are you so obsessed with that spot?" Law asked, a bit husky voiced now.

"Your smell is best here." She answered then finally moved away from it and to his ear. "Also, I don't need to hide behind a custom to kiss you if I decide to."

"If? So what is this?" He teased.

"Zicd… I'm proving my point. I do know what a real kiss is so stop saying my show of respect was about affection. It was about respect."

Law felt surprised and a bit disappointed. "That's it? It's a quiet excessive way to prove a point."

"Famm… Yeah it is. I don't mind since it's with you though. Especially when you make a cute face like you were." She was a bit nervous about what she was saying, but clearly meant every word.

Law almost growled as he bit her ear. "Who do you think you are? Calling me cute like that. I haven't been cute in my whole life."

"Hehe… Even if that's true you are now." She laughed, amused by him for some reason.

"Stop laughing you idiot." Now he was nipping down her neck.

"Ugyo…" Her voice was softer then before and now Law just wanted to make her breathless. He moved back to kiss her lips again but was stopped dead. Arianna was asleep.

"Ugh!" He groaned as he dropped his head just above her and his whole body nearly fell too. _*Exactly how drunk were you?*_

* * *

**Did you all survive the chapter? Hopefully you did. If not go back and at least read the last two POV sections, they're kind of the most plot pushing parts to it. I know this thing was way long but hopefully no one fell asleep halfway through it. Just so we are doubly clear I'm not dropping this story or anything like that. Life is just busy and I don't have the time to write like I once did :(**

**Yay Comment! (´****｡****•****ω •****｡****`) :**

**Sarge1130: I'm happy you understand that it's not all adventure all the time. Life does happen in between the battles and this chapter definitely emphasizes that a bit more. When Arianna said that Law was scrawny she also said she was mistaken but Law's a man, it was still a bit of a thorn on his pride. For some reason Law and Bepo definitely seem to be a mischievous pair in their own right in my story. Not sure why I think they are like that when alone together, I apparently just do. Thanks for the review as always, it really does make a difference for the writer to get feedback and I'm happy you always have something to say.**

**Rainydaywritings: Thank you. Cute and fierce are definitely two of her most defining characteristics. I hope you were able to enjoy this long ass chapter.**


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